光、影与尘埃

2020 March 5

The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
Image Credit & Copyright: Casey Good

Explanation: This colorful skyscape spans about four full moons across nebula rich starfields along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in the royal northern constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of the region’s massive molecular cloud some 2,400 light-years away, bright reddish emission region Sharpless (Sh) 155 is left of center, also known as the Cave Nebula. About 10 light-years across the cosmic cave’s bright walls of gas are ionized by ultraviolet light from the hot young stars around it. Dusty blue reflection nebulae, like vdB 155 at lower right, and dense obscuring clouds of dust also abound on the interstellar canvas. Astronomical explorations have revealed other dramatic signs of star formation, including the bright red fleck of Herbig-Haro (HH) 168. Below center in the frame, the Herbig-Haro object emission is generated by energetic jets from a newborn star.

Tomorrow’s picture: pixels on Mars

光、影与尘埃
影像来源及版权: Casey Good

说明：这张五颜六色的星空照片相当于4个满月的宽度。这片拥有众多星云的天区位于银河系平面上，属于北天的王室星座之一——仙王座。靠近这片区域内大质量分子云的边缘，距离2400光年的明亮的红色发射区沙普利斯(Sh)155位于画面中心偏左位置,它也被称为洞穴星云。这个宇宙洞穴约有10光年大小，气体被周围年轻的炽热恒星所发出的紫外线电离，形成了明亮的洞壁。像右下方vdB155那样黯淡的蓝色反射星云，以及稠密不透光的尘埃云也共同出现在这张星际画布上。天文研究还发现了包括明亮的红色斑块赫比格-阿罗（HH）168在内的恒星形成的其它戏剧性迹象。在画面中心下方的这个赫比格-阿罗天体，其辐射是由新生恒星的高能喷流造成的。

明日一图预告：pixels in space