NASA的韦伯望远镜揭示星际尘埃和气体的复杂层次
很久很久以前，一颗大质量恒星的内核发生坍塌，产生的冲击波向外喷发，将恒星撕成碎片。当冲击波到达恒星表面时，它穿透了恒星表面，产生了短暂而强烈的X射线和紫外线脉冲，向周围的太空传播。大约350年后，这个光脉冲到达了星际物质，照亮了星际物质，令其升温，并发出红外光。
超新星遗迹中的美人鱼星云
A starfield is shown with a long blue-glowing nebula taking up much of the frame. The nebula appears, to some, similar to a fish or a mermaid. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
一个长长的蓝色发光星云占据了画面的大部分。对一些人来说，这个星云看起来就像一条鱼或一条美人鱼。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。
超新星遗迹CTA 1
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
请参阅说明。单击图片将下载可用的最高分辨率版本。
IC 443: 水母星云
2023年12月26日 IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: David Payne Explanation: Why is this jellyfish swimming in a sea of stars? Drifting near bright star Eta Geminorum, seen at the right, the Jellyfish Nebula extends its tentacles from the bright arcing ridge of emission left of center. In fact, the cosmic jellyfish is part of bubble-shaped supernova remnant IC 443, the expanding debris cloud from a massive star that exploded. Light from the explosion first reached planet Earth over 30,000 years ago. Like its cousin in astronomical waters, the Crab Nebula supernova remnant IC 443 is known to harbor a neutron star — the remnant of the collapsed stellar core. The Jellyfish Nebula is about 5,000 light-years away. At that distance, the featured…
超新星遗迹仙后A
2023年12月14日 Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (University of Gent) Explanation: Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After only a few million years for the most massive stars, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew. The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example of this final phase of the stellar life cycle. Light from the supernova explosion that created this remnant would have been first seen in planet Earth’s sky about 350 years ago, although it took that light…
弗莱明三角星云
2023年11月21日 Fleming’s Triangular Wisp Image Credit & Copyright: Cristiano Gualco Explanation: These chaotic and tangled filaments of shocked, glowing gas are spread across planet Earth’s sky toward the constellation of Cygnus as part of the Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, an expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000 years ago. The glowing filaments are really more like long ripples in a sheet seen almost edge on, remarkably well separated into the glow of ionized hydrogen atoms shown in red and oxygen in blue hues. Also known as the Cygnus Loop and cataloged as NGC 6979, the Veil Nebula now spans about 6 times the…
M1: 不断扩张的蟹状星云
2023年11月15日 M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Jeff Hester (ASU), Allison Loll (ASU), Tea Temim (Princeton University) Explanation: Cataloged as M1, the Crab Nebula is the first on Charles Messier’s famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab Nebula is now known to be a supernova remnant, an expanding cloud of debris from the death explosion of a massive star. The violent birth of the Crab was witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. Roughly 10 light-years across, the nebula is still expanding at a rate of about 1,500 kilometers per second. You can see the expansion by comparing these sharp images from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. The Crab’s dynamic, fragmented…
尘埃与西面纱星云
2023年10月18日 Dust and the Western Veil Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Jiang Wu Explanation: It’s so big it is easy to miss. The entire Veil Nebula spans six times the diameter of the full moon, but is so dim you need binoculars to see it. The nebula was created about 15,000 years ago when a star in the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) exploded. The spectacular explosion would have appeared brighter than even Venus for a week – but there is no known record of it. Pictured is the western edge of the still-expanding gas cloud. Notable gas filaments include the Witch’s Broom Nebula on the upper left near the bright foreground star 52 Cygni, and Fleming’s Triangular Wisp (formerly known as Pickering’s Triangle) running…
回收仙后座A
2023年6月1日 Recycling Cassiopeia A Image Credit: X-ray – NASA, CXC, SAO; Optical – NASA,STScI Explanation: Massive stars in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives. Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces ignite and create heavy elements in their cores. After a few million years, the enriched material is blasted back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew. The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example of this final phase of the stellar life cycle. Light from the explosion which created this supernova remnant would have been first seen in planet Earth’s sky about 350 years ago, although it took that light about 11,000 years to reach us. This false-color image, composed of X-ray and optical image data from…