保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2023年3月30日 NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad Image Credit & Copyright: Matias Tomasello Explanation: The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula drifts through southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars toward the small constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross...
2023年2月4日 NGC 2626 along the Vela Molecular Ridge Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby & Mark Hanson Explanation: Centered in this colorful cosmic canvas, NGC 2626 is a beautiful, bright, blue reflection nebula in the southern Milky Way. Next to an obscuring dust cloud and surrounded by reddish hydrogen emission from large H II region RCW 27 it lie...
2023年1月29日 Barnard 68: Dark Molecular Cloud Image Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO Explanation: Where did all the stars go? What used to be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular gas absorb practically all the visible light emitted from background stars. T...
2023年1月12日 Stardust in Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: Jack Groves Explanation: This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 6 degrees on the sky in the heroic constellation Perseus. At upper left in the gorgeous skyscape is the intriguing young star cluster IC 348 and neighboring Flying Ghost Nebula with clouds of obscuring interstellar du...
2022年11月24日 Lynds Dark Nebula 1251 Image Credit & Copyright: Stefano Attalienti Explanation: Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum, astr...
2022年8月27日 IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: David Jenkins Explanation: Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Climbing high in northern summer night skies, it’s located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation Cygnus ...
2022年3月31日 Exploring the Antennae Image Credit & Copyright: Dietmar Hager, Eric Benson Explanation: Some 60 million light-years away in the southerly constellation Corvus, two large galaxies are colliding. Stars in the two galaxies, cataloged as NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, very rarely collide in the course of the ponderous cataclysm that lasts for hundreds o...
2022年2月17日 Chamaeleon I Molecular Cloud Image Credit & Copyright: Acquisition: Stas Volskiy (Chilescope.com), Processing: Robert Eder Explanation: Dark markings and bright nebulae in this telescopic southern sky view are telltale signs of young stars and active star formation. They lie a mere 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the local bubble and...
2022年1月27日 South of Orion Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander Explanation: South of the large star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula, lies bright blue reflection nebula NGC 1999. At the edge of the Orion molecular cloud complex some 1,500 light-years distant, NGC 1999’s illumination is provided by the embedded variable star V380 Orionis...
2021年11月05日 The Dark Seahorse in Cepheus Image Credit & Copyright: Valerio Avitabile Explanation: Light-years across, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula appears in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus, the dusty, obscuring clouds are part of a Milky Way molecular...