2025年8月1日
Small Dark Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Bresseler
Explanation: A small, dark, nebula looks isolated near the center of this telescopic close-up. The wedge-shaped cosmic cloudlet lies within a relatively crowded region of space though. About 7,000 light-years distant and filled with glowing gas and an embedded cluster of young stars, the region is known as M16 or the Eagle Nebula. Hubble’s iconic images of the Eagle Nebula include the famous star-forming Pillars of Creation, towering structures of interstellar gas and dust 4 to 5 light-years long. But this small dark nebula, known to some as a Bok globule, is a fraction of a light-year across. The Bok globule stands out in silhouette against the expansive background of M16’s diffuse glow. Found scattered within emission nebulae and star clusters, Bok globules are small interstellar clouds of cold molecular gas and obscuring dust that also form stars within their dense, collapsing cores.
Tomorrow’s picture: light-weekend
娇小的暗星云
影像提供与版权: Peter Bresseler
说明: 这幅望影远镜特写影像的中心附近，有个看似孤伶伶的黝黑小星云。这朵楔形的宇宙云，其实位于一个相对拥挤的空间里。它所在的宇宙空间，是离我们约7,000光年远，里头嵌着一个年轻星团、到处都是明亮云气的Ｍ16（亦称为鹰状星云）。在哈勃望远镜为鹰状星云所拍摄的标志性影像之中，包括了著名的创生之柱，这类长达4到5光年的塔状星际气体和尘埃结构。影像中的这个宽不到1光年的小暗星云，通常称为博克球状体。这个包克云球之所以如此突出，则是因为它以剪影的形式悬在M16弥漫的背景辉光前方。散布在发射星云和星团里的博克球状体，是由冷分子气体和遮光尘埃所组成的娇小星际云，而其致密的核心也在塌缩形成恒星。
明日的图片: light-weekend
