蝌蚪星云的恒星诞生活动

2020 January 28

Star Formation in the Tadpole Nebula
Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright: Francesco Antonucci

Explanation: What’s all of the commotion in the Tadpole Nebula? Star formation. Dusty emission in the Tadpole Nebula, IC 410, lies about 12,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The cloud of glowing gas is over 100 light-years across, sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from embedded open star cluster NGC 1893. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, bright newly formed cluster stars are seen all around the star-forming nebula. Notable near the image center are two relatively dense streamers of material trailing away from the nebula’s central regions. Potentially sites of ongoing star formation in IC 410, these cosmic tadpole shapes are about 10 light-years long. The featured image was taken in infrared light by NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite.

蝌蚪星云的恒星诞生活动
影像提供: WISE, IRSA, NASA; 影像处理与版权: Francesco Antonucci

说明: 蝌蚪星云到底在忙些什么？在形成恒星。会发出尘埃辐射的蝌蚪星云，位在北天的御夫座方向，离我们约12,000光年远。这团受到内部疏散星团 NGC 1893的恒星风和辐射雕塑之辉光云气，跨幅略大于100光年。而近在4百万年前才从星际云形成的这个星团，其明亮的成员星散布在恒星诞生云的四周。在影像里，最显眼的是星云中心那二道指离中心而​​且相对致密的物质束；这些10光年长的“宇宙级蝌蚪”，是IC 410内未来恒星诞生的可能位置。这张红外光波段的主题影像，是由美国航太总署的广角红外光巡天卫星 (WISE)所拍摄。