大麦哲伦星系

2024年10月2日

The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Ireneusz Nowak; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)

Explanation: It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way Galaxy. If you live in the south, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is quite noticeable, spanning about 10 degrees across the night sky, which is 20 times larger than the full moon towards the southern constellation of the dolphinfish (Dorado). Being only about 160,000 light years away, many details of the LMC’s structure can be seen, such as its central bar and its single spiral arm. The LMC harbors numerous stellar nurseries where new stars are being born, which appear in pink in the featured image. It is home to the Tarantula Nebula, the currently most active star forming region in the entire Local Group, a small collection of nearby galaxies dominated by the massive Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. Studies of the LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by Henrietta Swan Leavitt led to the discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars that are used to measure distances across the nearby universe.

Survey: Color Blindness and Astronomical Images
Tomorrow’s picture: Eclipse at Sunrise

大麦哲伦星系
影像提供与版权: Ireneusz Nowak; 撰文: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)

说明: 它是银河系最大的伴星系。如果你住在南半球，跨幅约10度（满月宽度的20倍）、位于南天剑鱼 座方向的大麦哲伦星系会相当吸睛。由于它离我们仅约有16万光年远，大麦哲伦星系（LMC）的细微结构，例如其中心棒和单螺旋臂皆清晰可辨。LMC有非常多的诞生恒星的星云，在这幅主题影像里这些恒星形成区呈粉红色。此外，LMC也是蜘蛛星云，这个本星系群最活跃的恒星形成区的家园。本星系群则是由邻近星系聚成的小集团，其中最具主宰性的是庞大的仙女大星系和银河系。当年，勒维特（Henrietta Swan Leavitt）对大、小麦哲伦星系的研究，促成造父变星的周期—光度关系之发现，后来此关系就用来测量邻近宇宙的距离。

调查: 色盲与天文图像
明日的图片: Eclipse at Sunrise