2025年2月18日
Thor’s Helmet versus the Seagull
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Martino, Adrien Soto, Louis Leroux & Yann Sainty
Explanation: Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the only cosmic clouds to evoke images of flight. But both are winging their way across this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7 degrees across planet Earth‘s night sky toward the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major). The expansive Seagull (top center) is itself composed of two major cataloged emission nebulas. Brighter NGC 2327 forms the head with the more diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body. Impressively, the Seagull’s wingspan would correspond to about 250 light-years at the nebula’s estimated distance of 3,800 light-years. At the lower right, the Duck appears much more compact and would span only about 50 light-years given its 15,000 light-year distance estimate. Blown by energetic winds from an extremely massive, hot star near its center, the Duck nebula is cataloged as NGC 2359. Of course, the Duck’s thick body and winged appendages also lend it the slightly more dramatic popular moniker, Thor’s Helmet.
Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow’s picture: star system forming
雷神的头盔与海鸥
影像提供与版权: Nicolas Martino, Adrien Soto, Louis Leroux & Yann Sainty
说明: 这二团形似海鸥与鸭子的星云，并非是唯二让人联想到飞行的宇宙云。在这片位于大犬座方向、宽将近7度的宽广地球夜空视野里，海鸥与鸭子展翅高飞。左方由两团发射星云 构成的庞大海鸥（中左上方），头部是较明亮的NGC 2327，而较弥漫的IC 2177则是它的翅膀。依海鸥星云3,800光年远的距离来换算，其翼展约有250光年。而右下角距离约15000光年远、远较紧实的”鸭子星云“，其跨幅仅有50光年。编录号为NGC 2359的鸭子星云，是受到中心附近的极大质量炽热恒星的强烈恒星风吹袭而形成的。鸭子星云厚实的身躯及侧翼，也为它博得雷神的头盔之称号。
宇宙传送门: 随机APOD生成器
明日的图片: star system forming
