哈勃望远镜拍摄了一个食人族星系

This remarkable spiral galaxy, known as NGC 4651, may look serene and peaceful as it swirls in the vast, silent emptiness of space, but don’t be fooled — it keeps a violent secret. It is believed that this galaxy consumed another smaller galaxy to become the large and beautiful spiral that we observe today.

Although only a telescope like the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which captured this image, could give us a picture this clear, NGC 4651 can also be observed with an amateur telescope — so if you have a telescope at home and a star-gazing eye, look out for this glittering carnivorous spiral.

Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Leonard

这个引人注目的螺旋星系，即NGC 4651，当它在广袤、寂静的太空中旋转时，看起来像宁静祥和，但不要被愚弄了——它隐藏着一个暴烈的秘密。据信，这个星系吞噬了另一个较小的星系，形成了我们今天看到的巨大而美丽的螺旋。

尽管只有像NASA/ESA哈勃太空望远镜这样的望远镜能够捕获到这张图像，才能使我们获得清晰的照片，但是NGC 4651也可以用业余望远镜观察到——所以如果你家里有望远镜和一双观星的眼睛，留意一下这个闪闪发光的食肉螺旋。

文字来源：ESA（欧洲航天局）
图片来源：ESA/Hubble和NASA, D. Leonard