M27: 哑铃星云

M27: 哑铃星云

BySamuel Chan

A starfield is shown with a frame dominated by a gaseous nebula. The nebula, filled with structure, appears orange in the center but blue
around the edges. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
一片星空展现在画面中，画面以一个充满结构的气体星云为主。星云的中心呈橙色，而边缘则显现蓝色。有关更多详细信息，请参阅说明。

猫眼星云: 可见光及X射线波段的景观

猫眼星云: 可见光及X射线波段的景观

BySamuel Chan

2024年1月7日 The Cat’s Eye Nebula in Optical and X-ray Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Chandra X-ray Obs.; Processing & Copyright: Rudy Pohl Explanation: To some it looks like a cat’s eye. To others, perhaps like a giant cosmic conch shell. It is actually one of the brightest and most highly detailed planetary nebula known, composed of gas expelled in the brief yet glorious phase near the end of life of a Sun-like star. This nebula‘s dying central star may have produced the outer circular concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. The formation of the beautiful, complex-yet-symmetric inner structures, however, is not well understood. The featured image is a composite of a digitally sharpened Hubble Space Telescope…

NGC 2440: 新白矮星的茧

NGC 2440: 新白矮星的茧

ByNASA中文

2023年12月24日 NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: H. Bond (STScI), R. Ciardullo (PSU), Forrest Hamilton (STScI) Explanation: What’s that in the center? Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon of gas that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest cocoon of all. In the featured cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440 contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The white dwarf can be seen as the bright orange dot near the image center. Our Sun will eventually become a white dwarf butterfly, but not for another 5 billion years….