NGC 206与仙女大星系的恒星云

2024年11月28日

NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni

Explanation: The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy along with the galaxy’s pinkish star-forming regions. Also known as M31, the spiral galaxy is a mere 2.5 million light-years away. NGC 206 is found at the center of this sharp and detailed close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda’s disk. The bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. In fact, its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old. Much larger than the open or galactic clusters of young stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy, NGC 206 spans about 4,000 light-years. That’s comparable in size to the giant stellar nurseries NGC 604 in nearby spiral M33 and the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Tomorrow’s picture: star cluster of the Milky Way

NGC 206与仙女座星系的恒星云
影像提供与版权: Roberto Marinoni

说明: 庞大的星协NGC 206位于仙女座星系满布尘埃的螺旋臂内，与它为伴的还有许多此星系的粉红恒星形成区。亦名为M31的这个螺旋星系，距离我们只有250万光年远。于这幅仙女座星系西南盘面的清晰细致特写影像里，NGC 206座落在影像的中心。NGC 206内星色泛蓝的亮星，显示它还相当年轻，它最年轻的大质量恒星之年龄甚至还不到1千万年。跨幅约为4,000光年NGC 206，远比银河盘面上的疏散星团（或称银河星团）大，其大小与邻近螺旋星系M33内的大恒星形成区NGC 604及大麦哲伦星系的蜘蛛星云相当。

明日的图片: star cluster of the Milky Way