银河中心之旅

Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
Video Credit: ESO/MPE/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/VISTA/J. Emerson/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Explanation: What lies at the center of our galaxy? In Jules Verne‘s science fiction classic, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Professor Liedenbrock and his fellow explorers encounter many strange and exciting wonders. Astronomers already know of some of the bizarre objects that exist at our Galactic Center, including vast cosmic dust clouds, bright star clusters, swirling rings of gas, and even a supermassive black hole. Much of the Galactic Center is shielded from our view in visible light by the intervening dust and gas, but it can be explored using other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The featured video is actually a digital zoom into the Milky Way’s center which starts by utilizing visible light images from the Digitized Sky Survey. As the movie proceeds, the light shown shifts to dust-penetrating infrared and highlights gas clouds that were recently discovered in 2013 to be falling toward the central black hole.

Tomorrow’s picture: dark horse

银河中心之旅
影片提供: ESO/MPE/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/VISTA/J. Emerson/Digitized Sky Survey 2

说明: 我们银河系中心藏着那些奇观呢？在儒勒·凡尔纳（Jules Verne）的科幻名著《地心之旅》里，李登布罗克教授和他的探险伙伴，看见了许多奇特且迷人的景观。至于在银河中心的课题上，天文学家已经知道部份藏在该处的奇特天体，其中有庞大的宇宙尘埃云、明亮的星团、涡旋状的气体环、以及一颗超大质量的黑洞。不过银河中心受到视线方向居间的尘埃和气体之阻隔，所以在可见光波段几乎不可见，只能用其他电磁波段来探测它。这部探索银河中心的主题影片，以数位巡天资料库的可见光影像为起点开始拉近，随着影片进展，呈现的波段转换成可穿透尘埃的红外光，以突显在2013年发现、即将掉入银河系中心黑洞的气体云。