This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 2566.
ESA/NASA
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 2566, which sits 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis. A prominent bar of stars stretches across the center of this galaxy, and spiral arms emerge from each end of the bar. Because NGC 2566 appears tilted from our perspective, its disk takes on an almond shape, giving the galaxy the appearance of a cosmic eye.
As NGC 2566 appears to gaze at us, astronomers gaze right back, using Hubble to survey the galaxy’s star clusters and star-forming regions. The Hubble data are especially valuable for studying stars that are just a few million years old; these stars are bright at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive. Using these data, researchers can measure the ages of NGC 2566’s stars, which helps piece together the timeline of the galaxy’s star formation and the exchange of gas between star-forming clouds and the stars themselves.
Hubble regularly teams up with other astronomical observatories to examine objects like NGC 2566, including the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Webb data complements Hubble’s by going beyond the infrared wavelengths of light Hubble can see, better defining areas of warm, glowing dust. At even longer wavelengths, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) of 66 radio telescopes that work together can capture detailed images of the clouds of gas and dust in which stars form. Together, Hubble, Webb, and ALMA provide an overview of the formation, lives, and deaths of stars in galaxies across the universe.
这张由NASA/ESA哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的图像展示了螺旋星系NGC 2566。
图片来源: ESA/NASA
这张哈勃太空望远镜的图像描绘了位于船底座的螺旋星系NGC 2566，距离地球约7600万光年。一个显著的恒星条带横跨星系中心，两端延伸出螺旋臂。由于从我们的视角看去，NGC 2566呈现出倾斜的样子，其盘面显得像一个杏仁状，使星系看起来宛如一个“宇宙之眼”。
当NGC 2566仿佛注视着我们时，天文学家们也通过哈勃望远镜回望这颗星系，研究其恒星群和恒星形成区域。哈勃的数据对于研究仅有数百万年历史的恒星尤其有价值，这些恒星在哈勃敏感的紫外线和可见光波段中非常明亮。通过这些数据，研究人员可以测量NGC 2566中恒星的年龄，从而拼接出星系恒星形成的时间线以及恒星形成云与恒星之间气体交换的过程。
哈勃经常与其他天文观测台合作研究类似NGC 2566的天体，其中包括NASA/ESA/CSA的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜。韦伯望远镜的数据补充了哈勃的观测能力，通过延伸到哈勃无法观测的红外光波段，更清晰地描绘出温暖发光的尘埃区域。在更长的波长下，阿塔卡马大型毫米波/亚毫米波阵列（ALMA）——由66台射电望远镜组成的阵列——可以拍摄恒星形成的气体和尘埃云的详细图像。哈勃、韦伯和ALMA一起为我们提供了宇宙中各星系中恒星的形成、生命周期和死亡的全面图景。
