神秘山怪逐渐销蚀

2020 May 25

Mystic Mountain Monster being Destroyed
Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Inside the head of this interstellar monster is a star that is slowly destroying it. The huge monster, actually an inanimate series of pillars of gas and dust, measures light years in length. The in-head star is not itself visible through the opaque interstellar dust but is bursting out partly by ejecting opposing beams of energetic particles called Herbig-Haro jets. Located about 7,500 light years away in the Carina Nebula and known informally as Mystic Mountain, the appearance of these pillars is dominated by dark dust even though they are composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. The featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. All over these pillars, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Within a few million years, the head of this giant, as well as most of its body, will have been completely evaporated by internal and surrounding stars.

Tomorrow’s picture: Higher than the Himalayas

神秘山怪逐渐销蚀
影像提供: Hubble, NASA, ESA; 处理与授权: Judy Schmidt

说明: 位在这头星际怪兽头部的一颗恒星，正在缓缓摧毁它。这头庞然怪兽，其实是一个由成串无生命的气体和尘埃柱所聚成、长达数光年的天体。影像中，它头内的恒星受到不透光的星际尘埃之遮掩而隐不可见，不过经由所射出的双极状、称为赫比格-哈罗天体的高能粒子喷流，这颗恒星展露了部分头角。这个位在约7,500光年远处的船底座大星云之内、昵称为神秘山的天体，虽然看来像是尘埃结构，其实主要的成分是透明的氢气。这幅哈伯太空望远镜拍摄的主题影像里，在各个柱状结构内的大质量新诞生恒星发出的高能星光和恒星风，不停的蒸发和吹散孕育它们的恒星育婴室。估计在数百万年内，这个庞大怪兽的头和大部分的身体，都会在内部及周围恒星的照射而蒸发殆尽。

明日的图片: Higher than the Himalayas