2025年6月19日
NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander
Explanation: Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth’s sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It’s hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. The deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter, gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.
Tomorrow’s picture: lunistice
NGC 3521: 气泡里的星系
影像提供与版权: Vikas Chander
说明: 春天狮子座方向的壮丽NGC 3521，是距离我们仅有3千5百万光年的螺旋星系。NGC 3521是地球天空中相当明亮、用小望远镜即可轻易看见的的天体，不过由于狮子座内有更吸睛的M66和M65等螺旋星系，故常受到业余天文摄影者的冷落。不过，在上面这幅彩色的宇宙天体影像中，要对它视而不见可不容易。这个宽约50,000光年的星系，拥有特有断断续续的不规则螺旋臂，上头则散布着尘埃、粉红色的恒星形成区、及成团的年轻蓝色恒星。此外，于这张深空影像里，更可发现星系NGC 3521是座落在昏暗庞大的气泡壳状结构里。这些壳状结构可能是潮汐碎片，是从很久以前与NGC 3521合并的伴星系剥离出来的恒星流。
明日的图片: lunastice
