星系NGC 5394和NGC 5395的双人慢舞

2020 March 4

The Slow Dance of Galaxies NGC 5394 and 5395
Image Credit: Gemini, NSF, OIR Lab, AURA; Text: Ryan Tanner (NASA/USRA)

Explanation: If you like slow dances, then this may be one for you. A single turn in this dance takes several hundred million years. Two galaxies, NGC 5394 and NGC 5395, slowly whirl about each other in a gravitational interaction that sets off a flourish of sparks in the form of new stars. The featured image, taken with the Gemini North 8-meter telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii, USA, combines four different colors. Emission from hydrogen gas, colored red, marks stellar nurseries where new stars drive the evolution of the galaxies. Also visible are dark dust lanes that mark gas that will eventually become stellar nurseries. If you look carefully you will see many more galaxies in the background, some involved in their own slow cosmic dances.

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星系NGC 5394和NGC 5395的双人慢舞
影像来源及版权：Gemini，NSF，OIR Lab，AURA；文字：Ryan Tanner （NASA/USRA）

说明：如果你喜欢慢舞，那么你可能会喜欢上这幅图。图中的这支舞，一个转身就需要几亿年。两个星系NGC 5394和NGC 5395在引力的相互作用下围着对方缓慢绕转，一些新的恒星得以形成，像是点缀在其间的火花一般。这张由位于美国夏威夷莫纳克亚山上的双子座北8米望远镜拍摄的图片，是四个波段的照片叠加处理而成。来自氢气的辐射用红色表示，那里是恒星诞生的温床。这些新恒星的诞生将推动着星系的演化。同样可见的还有暗尘带，这里将最终演化成恒星诞生地。如果观察仔细，你将在背景中发现更多的星系，它们中的一些正在上演属于自己的宇宙舞蹈。

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