2025年12月28日
NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Explanation: Jewels don’t shine this bright — only stars do. And almost every spot in this jewel-box of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope is a star. Now, some stars are more red than our Sun, and some more blue — but all of them are much farther away. Although it takes light about 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun, NGC 1898 is so far away that it takes light about 160,000 years to get here. This huge ball of stars, NGC 1898, is called a globular cluster and resides in the central bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) — a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The featured multi-colored image includes light from the infrared to the ultraviolet and was taken to help determine if the stars of NGC 1898 all formed at the same time or at different times. There are increasing indications that most globular clusters formed stars in stages, and that, in particular, stars from NGC 1898 formed shortly after ancient encounters with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and our Milky Way Galaxy.
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Tomorrow’s picture: boom star
NGC 1898: 位于大麦哲伦星系的球状星团
影像提供: ESA/Hubble & NASA
说明: 宝石不会如此闪耀-只有恒星才会。在这幅来自哈勃太空望远镜的影像中，几乎每一个闪亮的点都是一颗恒星。有些恒星比我们的太阳更红，有些则更蓝-但它们都远在天边。虽然光从太阳到达地球大约只需8分钟，但NGC 1898距离如此遥远，以至于光需要约16万年才能到达这里。这个巨大的恒星球体NGC 1898被称为球状星团，位于大麦哲伦星系（LMC）的中央棒状结构中－大麦哲伦星云是我们巨大银河系的卫星星系。这幅多彩图像涵盖了从红外线到紫外线的光谱，拍摄此图是为了帮助确定NGC 1898的恒星是同时形成的，还是在不同的时间形成的。越来越多的证据表明，大多数球状星团的恒星形成是一个分阶段的过程，特别是NGC 1898的恒星是在远古的相遇后不久形成的，这些相遇包括小麦哲伦星系（SMC）和我们的银河系。
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明日的图片: boom star
