2025年11月19日
Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li & Houbo Zhao
Explanation: Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation of Chamaeleon. Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it. In this 11.4-hour exposure, however, the dust is seen mostly in light of its own, with its strong red and near-infrared colors creating a brown hue. Contrastingly blue, a bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible on the upper right of the V, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. All of the pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with one notable exception: a white spot just below Beta Chamaeleontis is the galaxy IC 3104, which lies far in the distance. Interstellar dust is mostly created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars and dispersed into space by stellar light, stellar winds, and stellar explosions such as supernovas.
Tomorrow’s picture: open space
蝘蜒座暗星云
影像提供与版权: Xinran Li & Houbo Zhao
说明: 有时，星际空间的暗尘呈现出一种棱角分明的优雅。这种现象可以在遥远南方的蝘蜒座中观察到。通常情况下，暗尘太过暗淡而无法直接观测，它最广为人知的是阻挡来自其后方恒星和星系的可见光。然而，在这张11.4小时曝光的影像中，我们看到的尘埃主要以自身发光显现出来，其强烈的红色和近红外线颜色使其呈现出棕色色调。与之形成鲜明对比的是，在V字形的右上方可看见明亮的蝘蜓座β星，它呈现出蓝色，其周围的尘埃优先反射其主要蓝白色光源的蓝光。所有被拍摄到的恒星和尘埃都位于我们所在的银河系中，只有一个显著的例外：在蝘蜒座β星下方的一个白色斑点是遥远星系IC 3104。星际尘埃大多产生于红巨星的低温大气层中，并透过恒星光、恒星风和恒星爆炸（如超新星爆炸）等散布到太空中。
明日的图片: open space
