船底座星云的核心

船底座星云的核心

2024年2月5日 In the Core of the Carina Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Taylor Explanation: What’s happening in the core of the Carina Nebula? Stars are forming, dying, and leaving an impressive tapestry of dark dusty filaments. The entire Carina Nebula, cataloged as NGC 3372, spans over 300 light years and lies about 8,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. The nebula is composed predominantly of hydrogen gas, which emits the pervasive red and orange glows seen mostly in the center of this highly detailed featured image. The blue glow around the edges is created primarily by a trace amount of glowing oxygen. Young and massive stars located in the nebula’s center expel dust when they explode in supernovas. Eta Carinae, the most energetic…

NGC 1893与IC 410的蝌蚪

NGC 1893与IC 410的蝌蚪

2024年2月2日 NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410 Image Credit & Copyright: Sander de Jong Explanation: This cosmic view shows off an otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410, captured under clear Netherlands skies with telescope and narrowband filters. Above and right of center you can spot two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gas and dust, known as the tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing gas. Globules composed of denser cooler gas and dust, the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and are likely sites of ongoing star…

船底座的恒星与尘埃之战

船底座的恒星与尘埃之战

2023年12月6日 Stars Versus Dust in the Carina Nebula Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA); Processing: Franco Meconi (Terraza al Cosmos) Explanation: It’s stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and inside a region known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillars’ appearance is dominated by opaque brown dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. Even though some of the dust pillars look like torches, their ends are not on fire — rather, they are illuminated by nearby stars. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken…

仙女座星系过去和未来的恒星

仙女座星系过去和未来的恒星

2023年10月6日 The Once and Future Stars of Andromeda Image Credit: NASA, NSF, NOAJ, Hubble, Subaru, Mayall, DSS, Spitzer; Processing & Copyright: Robert Gendler & Russell Croman Explanation: This picture of Andromeda shows not only where stars are now, but where stars will be. The big, beautiful Andromeda Galaxy, M31, is a spiral galaxy a mere 2.5 million light-years away. Image data from space-based and ground-based observatories have been combined here to produce this intriguing composite view of Andromeda at wavelengths both inside and outside normally visible light. The visible light shows where M31’s stars are now, highlighted in white and blue hues and imaged by the Hubble, Subaru, and Mayall telescopes. The infrared light shows where M31’s future stars will soon form, highlighted in orange…