2025年5月26日
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 from Webb
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy
Explanation: What’s happening in the center of spiral galaxy NGC 2566? First, the eight rays that appear to be coming out of the center in the featured infrared image are not real — they are diffraction spikes caused by the mechanical structure of the Webb space telescope itself. The center of NGC 2566 is bright but not considered unusual, which means that it likely contains a supermassive black hole, although currently not very active. At only 76 million light years away, the light we see from NGC 2566 today left when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The picturesque galaxy is close enough so that Earthly telescopes, including Webb and Hubble, can resolve the turbulent clouds of gas and dust where stars can form and so allows study of stellar evolution. NGC 2566, similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy, is notable for its bright central bar and its prominent outer spiral arms.
Tomorrow’s picture: colorful star clouds
韦伯影像: 螺旋星系NGC 2566
影像提供: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy
说明: 螺旋星系NGC 2566的中心发生了什么事？于这幅红外光 主题 影像里，这些看似源自此星系核心的8出辐线，并非真的，它们其实是韦伯太空望远镜的机械结构所产生的绕射 芒。而NGC 2566的核心很明亮，但称不上非比寻常，意即它很可能藏着一颗不怎么活跃的超大质量黑洞。距离我们只有7千6百万光年远的NGC 2566，我们如今所见到的光，在恐龙尚于地表漫游时就已经启程了。这个美丽的星系算是相当邻近，所以包括韦伯和哈勃在内的地球望远镜，都能解析出正在诞生恒星的喧嚣气体与尘埃云，让我们得以研究恒星如何演化。NGC 2566的大小和银河系相当，以拥明亮的核心棒及鲜明的螺旋臂而著称。
明日的图片: colorful star clouds
