蜘蛛星云的国度

蜘蛛星云的国度

2022年9月16日 The Tarantula Zone Image Credit & Copyright: >Processing – Robert Gendler, Roberto Colombari Data – Hubble Tarantula Treasury, European Southern Observatory, James Webb Space Telescope, Amateur Sources Explanation: The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. About 180 thousand light-years away, it’s the largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. The cosmic arachnid sprawls across this magnificent view, an assembly of image data from large space- and ground-based telescopes. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds, and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars cataloged as R136 energize the nebular glow…

韦伯太空望远镜的狼蛛星群R136

韦伯太空望远镜的狼蛛星群R136

2022年9月7日 Tarantula Stars R136 from Webb Images Credit & Copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team Explanation: Near the center of a nearby star-forming region lies a massive cluster containing some of the largest and hottest stars known. Collectively known as star cluster NGC 2070, these stars are part of the vast Tarantula Nebula and were captured in two kinds of infrared light by the new Webb Space Telescope. The main image shows the group of stars at NGC 2070’s center — known as R136 — in near-infrared, light just a bit too red for humans to see. In contrast, the rollover image captures the cluster center in mid-infrared light, light closer to radio waves. Since R136’s brightest stars emit more of their…

前往恒星的道路

前往恒星的道路

2022年3月15日 A Road to the Stars Image Credit: ESO, Petr Horálek (ESO Photo Ambassador, Inst. of Physics in Opava) Explanation: Pictured — a very scenic road to the stars. The road approaches La Silla Observatory in Chile, with the ESO’s 3.6-meter telescope just up ahead. To the left are some futuristic-looking support structures for the planned BlackGEM telescopes, an array of optical telescopes that will help locate optical counterparts to gravitational waves detections by LIGO and other detectors. But there is much more. Red airglow illuminates the night sky on the right, while the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy slants across the image center. Jupiter can be seen just above the band near the image center, while Saturn is visible just above the…

破茧而出的星团R136

破茧而出的星团R136

2021年01月10日 Star Cluster R136 Breaks Out Image Credit: NASA, ESA, & F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O’Connell (U. Virginia) et al. Explanation: In the center of nearby star-forming region lies a huge cluster containing some of the largest, hottest, and most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136, part of the Tarantula Nebula, were captured in the featured image in visible light in 2009 through the Hubble Space Telescope. Gas and dust clouds in the Tarantula Nebula, have been sculpted into elongated shapes by powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these hot cluster stars. The Tarantula Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and is located a mere 170,000 light-years away. Tomorrow’s picture: phase the moon 破茧而出的星团R136…

大麦哲伦星系

大麦哲伦星系

2019 September 5 The Large Cloud of Magellan Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares Explanation: The 16th century Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere skygazers are known as the Clouds of Magellan, now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. About 160,000 light-years distant in the constellation Dorado, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen here in a remarkably deep, colorful, image. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies and is the home of the closest supernova in modern…

不规则星系NGC 55

不规则星系NGC 55

2019 July 12 Magellanic Galaxy NGC 55 Image Credit & Copyright: Acquisition – Eric Benson, Processing – Dietmar Hager Explanation: Irregular galaxy NGC 55 is thought to be similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). But while the LMC is about 180,000 light-years away and a well-known satellite of our own Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 55 is more like 6 million light-years distant, a member of the Sculptor Galaxy Group. Classified as an irregular galaxy, in deep exposures the LMC itself resembles a barred disk galaxy. Spanning about 50,000 light-years, NGC 55 is seen nearly edge-on though, presenting a flattened, narrow profile in contrast with our face-on view of the LMC. Just as large star forming regions create emission nebulae in the LMC, NGC 55…