保护地球，探索宇宙，发现文明
2023年9月19日 HH 211: Jets from a Forming Star Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Webb; Processing: Tom Ray (DIAS Dublin) Explanation: Do stars always create jets as they form? No one is sure. As a gas cloud gravitationally contracts, it forms a disk that can spin too fast to continue contracting into a protostar. Theorists hypothesize that this spin can be reduced by exp...
2023年9月8日 Star Factory Messier 17 Image Credit & Copyright: Kim Quick, Terry Hancock, and Tom Masterson (Grand Mesa Observatory) Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this 1/3 degree wide field of view spa...
2023年8月28日 Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks Explanation: Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and you might miss the stars of open cluster IC 1590. Formed within the nebula, that cluster’s young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in the...
2023年7月13日 Webb’s Rho Ophiuchi Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI), Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Explanation: A mere 390 light-years away, Sun-like stars and future planetary systems are forming in the Rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to our fair planet. The James Webb Space Telescope&...
2023年7月10日 Stars, Dust and Nebula in NGC 6559 Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block, Telescope Live Explanation: When stars form, pandemonium reigns. A textbook case is the star forming region NGC 6559. Visible in the featured image are red glowing emission nebulas of hydrogen, blue reflection nebulas of dust, dark absorption nebulas of dust, and the sta...
2023年6月22日 Stars and Dust across Corona Australis Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds cross a rich field of stars in this telescopic vista near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Part of a sprawling molecular cloud complex this star forming region is a mere 500 light-years away. ...
2023年6月8日 Elephant’s Trunk and Caravan Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Cannistra (StarryWonders) Explanation: Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Seen on the left the cosmic ele...
2023年4月22日 NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus Image Credit: Science – NASA, ESA, STScI, Processing – Varun Bajaj (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jennifer Mack (STScI) Explanation: In visible light NGC 1333 is seen as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-...
2023年4月20日 The Dark Seahorse in Cepheus Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Herman Explanation: Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula appears in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus, the dusty, obscuring clouds are part of a Milky Way molecular clou...
2023年4月10日 IC 2944: The Running Chicken Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Stern Explanation: To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 light years away to...