M33：三角大星系

M33：三角大星系

ByNASA中文

2021年11月12日 M33: The Triangulum Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other’s grand spiral star systems. As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33’s blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy’s loosely wound…

鲁宾的星系

鲁宾的星系

ByNASA中文

2021年9月18日 Rubin’s Galaxy Image Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Holwerda (University of Louisville) Explanation: In this Hubble Space Telescope image the bright, spiky stars lie in the foreground toward the heroic northern constellation Perseus and well within our own Milky Way galaxy. In sharp focus beyond is UGC 2885, a giant spiral galaxy about 232 million light-years distant. Some 800,000 light-years across compared to the Milky Way’s diameter of 100,000 light-years or so, it has around 1 trillion stars. That’s about 10 times as many stars as the Milky Way. Part of an investigation to understand how galaxies can grow to such enormous sizes, UGC 2885 was also part of An Interesting Voyage and astronomer Vera Rubin’s pioneering study of the rotation of spiral galaxies. Her…

M51：涡状星系

M51：涡状星系

ByNASA中文

2021年9月2日 M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: Josep Drudis Explanation: Find the Big Dipper and follow the handle away from the dipper’s bowl until you get to the last bright star. Then, just slide your telescope a little south and west and you’ll come upon this stunning pair of interacting galaxies, the 51st entry in Charles Messier’s famous catalog. Perhaps the original spiral nebula, the large galaxy with well defined spiral structure is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and dust lanes clearly sweep in front of its companion galaxy (top), NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years distant and officially lie within the angular boundaries of the small constellation Canes Venatici. Though M51 looks faint and fuzzy to…

M74：完美的螺旋星系

M74：完美的螺旋星系

ByNASA中文

2021年8月13日 A Perfect Spiral Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing: Mehmet Hakan Ozsarac Explanation: If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74’s graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. This sharp composite was constructed from image data recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy’s large star-forming regions. With a lower…

NGC 7814: 有超新星的小宽边帽星系

NGC 7814: 有超新星的小宽边帽星系

ByNASA中文

2021年7月22日 NGC 7814: Little Sombrero with Supernova Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Explanation: Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. NGC 7814 is centered in the pretty field of view that would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive halos and central bulges cut by a thin disk with thinner dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little…

星系M99

星系M99

ByNASA中文

2021年06月24日 Messier 99 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, Janice Lee; Processing & Copyright: Leo Shatz Explanation: Grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99 looks majestic on a truly cosmic scale. This recently processed full galaxy portrait stretches over 70,000 light-years across M99. The sharp view is a combination of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared image data from the Hubble Space Telescope. About 50 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Bernices, the face-on spiral is a member of the nearby Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Also cataloged as NGC 4254, a close encounter with another Virgo cluster member has likely influenced the shape of its well-defined, blue spiral arms. Tomorrow’s picture: single shot Andromeda 星系M99 影像提供: NASA, ESA, Hubble, Janice Lee; 影像处理与版权: Leo Shatz 说明: 就是用宇宙的尺度来看，螺旋星系M99还是相当宏伟。这幅最近处理制作的清晰星系影像，结合了来自哈伯太空望远镜的紫外光、可见光和红外光影像数据，以呈现M99宽约70,000光年的区域。这个位在北冕座方向，约5千万光年远处的正面螺旋星系，是邻近的室女座星系团的成员之一。亦拥有NGC 4254编录号的M99，可能曾和另一个室女座星系团的成员近距离接近，因而造就了它泛蓝鲜明螺旋臂的形状。 明日的图片:…

M104：草帽星系

M104：草帽星系

ByNASA中文

2021年05月14日 M104: The Sombrero Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: Bray Falls Explanation: A gorgeous spiral galaxy, M104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. This sharp optical view of the well-known galaxy made from ground-based image data was processed to preserve details often lost in overwhelming glare of M104’s bright central bulge. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum, and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104…

星系M106

星系M106

ByNASA中文

2021年04月09日 Messier 106 Image Credit: NASA, Hubble Legacy Archive, Kitt Peak National Observatory; Amateur Data & Processing Copyright: Robert Gendler Explanation: Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe – a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue…

NGC 3521：气泡里的星系

NGC 3521：气泡里的星系

ByNASA中文

2021年04月02日 NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble Image Credit & Copyright: Acquisition – Eric Benson, Processing – Dietmar Hager Explanation: Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth’s sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It’s hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn…

M64: 魔眼星系

M64: 魔眼星系

ByNASA中文

2021年03月29日 M64: The Evil Eye Galaxy Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA & the PHANGS-HST Team; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt Explanation: Who knows what evil lurks in the eyes of galaxies? The Hubble knows — or in the case of spiral galaxy M64 — is helping to find out. Messier 64, also known as the Evil Eye or Sleeping Beauty Galaxy, may seem to have evil in its eye because all of its stars rotate in the same direction as the interstellar gas in the galaxy’s central region, but in the opposite direction in the outer regions. Captured here in great detail by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, enormous dust clouds obscure the near-side of M64’s central region, which are laced with the telltale reddish glow of…