从昴宿星团到毕宿星团

2019 December 6

Pleiades to Hyades
Image Credit & Copyright: Amir H. Abolfath (TWAN)

Explanation: This cosmic vista stretches almost 20 degrees from top to bottom, across the dusty constellation Taurus. It begins at the Pleiades and ends at the Hyades, two star clusters recognized since antiquity in Earth’s night sky. At top, the compact Pleiades star cluster is about 400 light-years away. The lovely grouping of young cluster stars shine through dusty clouds that scatter blue starlight. At bottom, the V-shaped Hyades cluster looks more spread out in comparison and lies much closer, 150 light-years away. The Hyades cluster stars seem anchored by bright Aldebaran, a red giant star with a yellowish appearance. But Aldebaran actually lies only 65 light-years distant and just by chance along the line of sight to the Hyades cluster. Faint and darkly obscuring dust clouds found near the edge of the Taurus Molecular Cloud are also evident throughout the celestial scene. The wide field of view includes the dark nebula Barnard 22 at left with youthful star T Tauri and Hind’s variable nebula just above Aldebaran in the frame.

从昴宿星团到毕宿星团
影像来源与版权: Amir H. Abolfath (TWAN)

说明：这幅宇宙远景影像从上到下覆盖了金牛座内将近20度的天区。该影像呈现了在地球夜空中、自古以来已识别的两个星团-昴宿星团和毕宿星团。影像顶部的致密昴宿星团距离我们约400光年远。这个美丽星团的成员星在散射蓝色星光的尘埃云后方闪耀。相比之下，位于影像底部、距离我们150光年远的V型毕宿星团看起来更加广阔，且距离我们更近。亮星毕宿五是一颗外观呈现出淡黄色的红巨星，它看似是毕宿星团的主星。然而，毕宿五实际上距离我们仅65光年远，它只是碰巧与毕宿星团在同一视线方向上。另外，金牛座分子云边缘附近发现的黯淡尘埃云在这片天空中也清晰可见。这幅广角影像还呈现了位于左侧的暗星云巴纳德22和在毕宿五上方年轻的金牛T型星和欣德变星云。