狐皮、独角兽与圣诞树

2024年12月24日

Fox Fur, Cone, and Christmas Tree
Image Credit & Copyright: Tim White

Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). Considered as a star forming region and cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. The featured image spans an angle larger than a full moon, covering over 50 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies just to the left of the image center, bright variable star S Mon visible just to the right of the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula near the image top. With the Cone Nebula at the peak, the shape of the general glow of the region give it the nickname of the Christmas Tree Cluster, where stars are tree ornaments.

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狐皮、独角兽与圣诞树
影像提供与版权: Tim White

说明: 下列的物体有何交集：尖锥、狐皮和圣诞树？答案来啰！它们都是麒麟座内的天体。归类为恒星形成区的NGC 2264，其实是个离我们约2,700光年远，集合了混乱气体与尘埃，并夹杂着受到诞生于黝黑星际尘埃云内的新恒星之高能星光激发、而散发红光的发射星云之复合天体。这幅主题影像的视野之张角大于一轮满月，以NGC 2264所在的距离来换算，涵盖了超过50光年的区域。位于此区域的诸多天体中，有形似摊在影像中右方的皮毛之狐狸皮星云、其右侧的明亮变星麒麟S星、以及影像顶缘附近的锥状星云。以锥状星云为顶部的这个此区域，整体的发光形状为它赢得“圣诞树星团”的昵称，其中的恒星宛如圣诞树的饰品。