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。
詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜发现年轻超新星遗迹中心存在中子星的证据
NASA的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜在最近观测到的一颗超新星的位置发现了中子星辐射的最佳证据。这颗被称为SN 1987A的超新星是一颗核心坍缩超新星，这意味着其核心被压缩的残骸形成了一颗中子星或一个黑洞。
NASA的罗曼太空望远镜将如何记录活跃的宇宙
NASA的南希·格蕾丝·罗曼太空望远镜将把基于太空的观测与广阔的视野相结合，以前所未有的方式揭示动态的宇宙。
WR 134周围的环状星云
2023年5月18日 WR 134 Ring Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks Explanation: Made with narrowband filters, this cosmic snapshot covers a field of view about the size of the full Moon within the boundaries of the constellation Cygnus. It highlights the bright edge of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen gas. Embedded in the region’s interstellar clouds of gas and dust, the complex, glowing arcs are sections of bubbles or shells of material swept up by the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away, making the frame over 50 light-years across. Shedding their outer envelopes in powerful stellar winds, massive Wolf-Rayet stars…
银河中心的恒星、云气及磁场
2021年06月02日 The Galactic Center in Stars, Gas, and Magnetism Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT Explanation: What’s going on near the center of our galaxy? To help find out, a newly detailed panorama has been composed that explores regions just above and below the galactic plane in radio and X-ray light. X-ray light taken by the orbiting Chandra Observatory is shown in orange (hot), green (hotter), and purple (hottest) and superposed with a highly detailed image in radio waves, shown in gray, acquired by the MeerKAT array. Interactions are numerous and complex. Galactic beasts such as expanding supernova remnants, hot winds from newly formed stars, unusually strong and colliding magnetic fields, and a central supermassive black hole are all battling in a space only…