2025年3月26日
Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Montilla (AAE)
Explanation: You’d think the Pacman Nebula would be eating stars, but actually it is forming them. Within the nebula, a cluster’s young, massive stars are powering the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty columns and dense Bok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through narrow-band filters in Spain in mid 2024. It combines emissions from the nebula’s hydrogen and oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and blue colors. The scene spans well over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.
Tomorrow’s picture: open space
小精灵星云的恒星形成活动
影像提供与版权: Juan Montilla (AAE)
说明: 你或许以为小精灵星云会吞噬恒星，其实它反而在形成恒星。在这团星云之内，聚集成团的年轻大质量恒星，驱动无所不在的云气发出明亮的辉光。于这幅NGC 281的主题影像里，星团炽热的成员星发出强烈的高能恒星风及辐射，雕蚀出以剪影之姿现身的吸睛尘埃柱和致密博克球状体。这些尘埃结构如果存在的时间够长，未来也有机会成为恒星诞生之所。因其整体的外观，而有小精灵星云之戏称的NGC 281，位于仙后座方向约10,000光年远之处。这幅以氢与氧原子的辐射组成红、绿、蓝三原色的清晰合成影像，是在2024年中，透过 窄波段滤镜摄于西班牙。如果以NGC 281的估计距离来换算，这片视野大约涵盖超过80光年的区域。
明日的图片: open space
