ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.
Despite being only 10–20% as massive as the Milky Way galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud contains some of the most impressive nearby star-forming regions. The scene pictured here is on the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula, the largest and most productive star-forming region in the local universe. At its center, the Tarantula Nebula hosts the most massive stars known, weighing roughly 200 times the mass of the Sun.
The section of the nebula shown here features serene blue gas, brownish-orange dust patches, and a sprinkling of multicolored stars. The stars within and behind the dust clouds appear redder than those that are unobscured by dust. Dust absorbs and scatters blue light more than red light, allowing more of the red light to reach our telescopes, which makes the stars appear redder than they are. This image incorporates ultraviolet and infrared light as well as visible light. Using Hubble observations of dusty nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud and other galaxies, researchers can study these distant dust grains, helping them better understand the role that cosmic dust plays in the formation of new stars and planets.
影像来源: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray
这张由NASA/ESA哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的图像展示了一个尘埃弥漫却闪耀着光辉的场景，位于银河系的卫星星系——大麦哲伦星云内。大麦哲伦星云是一个矮星系，距离地球约16万光年外的位于剑鱼座和山案座。
尽管大麦哲伦星云的质量仅为银河系的10%到20%，但它包含了一些最壮观的近邻恒星形成区域。图像中的场景位于蜘蛛星云的边缘，这片星云是本宇宙中最大、最活跃的恒星形成区域。在其中心，蜘蛛星云孕育着已知最为巨大的恒星，其质量约为太阳的200倍。
图像中的星云部分展现了宁静的蓝色气体、棕橙色的尘埃斑块以及点缀其中的多彩恒星。尘埃云内部和背后的恒星看起来比那些未被尘埃遮挡的恒星显得更红。这是因为尘埃对蓝光的吸收和散射比对红光更强，使得更多红光能到达我们的望远镜，因此这些恒星看起来比实际更红。这张图像结合了紫外光、红外光和可见光。通过研究哈勃对大麦哲伦星云及其他星系中尘埃星云的观测，研究人员可以深入了解这些遥远的尘埃颗粒，从而更好地理解宇宙尘埃在新恒星和行星形成中的作用。
