LDN 1622:猎户座的暗星云

2020 February 21

LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion
Image Credit & Copyright: Min Xie

Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this cosmic scene. Lynds’ Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic exposures of the region. In contrast, the brighter reflection nebula vdB 62 is more easily seen, just above and right of center. LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard’s Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to lie at a similar distance, perhaps 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, this 1 degree wide field of view would span about 30 light-years. Young stars do lie hidden within the dark expanse and have been revealed in Spitzer Space telescope infrared images. Still, the foreboding visual appearance of LDN 1622 inspires its popular name, the Boogeyman Nebula.

Tomorrow’s picture: Central Centaurus A

LDN 1622:猎户座的暗星云
影像提供与版权: Min Xie

说明: 在这片宇宙视野里，栖息着一团很有趣，以剪影之姿现踪的暗星云。不过，纵然在散发着暗淡辉光的氢气衬托下，这个编录号为林茨暗星云（LDN 1622）的天体，只有在此区域的长曝光望远镜影像里方能辨识。相较之下，位在影像中右上方的反射星云vdB 62，较明亮也较容易见到。LDN 1622位我们银河系的盘面附近，在天空中的位置，离环拱着猎户腰带和配剑数量众多的发射星云复合体之巴纳德圈不远。带着后掠轮廓的LDN 1622之黝黑尘埃，距离与猎户座著名的星云相当，离我们或许只有1,500光年远。以这个距离来换算，这片1度宽的视野，对应的宽度大约为30光年。此外，史匹哲太空望远镜的红外影像，发现在这大片暗星云之内，有已刚诞生的年轻恒星。最后，这团暗星云狰狞的外貌，也为它博得恶灵星云的称号。（Boogeyman Nebula恶灵星云）

明日的图片: Central Centaurus A