Copyright:Tony Hallas
原文:
Barred spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant. Popular among amateur astronomers, it shines in the northern spring constellation Leo, near the top of the lion’s head. That part of the constellation is sometimes seen as a reversed question mark or sickle. One of the brighter galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere, NGC 2903 is surprisingly missing from Charles Messier’s catalog of lustrous celestial sights. This colorful image from a small ground-based telescope shows off the galaxy’s gorgeous spiral arms traced by young, blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions. Included are intriguing details of NGC 2903’s bright core, a remarkable mix of old and young clusters with immense dust and gas clouds. In fact, NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation activity near its center, also bright in radio, infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray bands. Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way, NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across.
中文翻譯:
🌌 **NGC 2903** – 一個迷人的星系，距離地球約2000萬光年。位於春天北方星座獅子座，靠近獅子頭的頂部，這部分星座有時被視為倒置的問號或新月。作為北半球可見的較亮星系之一，NGC 2903卻意外地不在查爾斯·梅西耶 (Charles Messier) 的璀璨天體目錄中。
這幅來自小型地面望遠鏡的彩色圖像展示了NGC 2903的美麗螺旋臂，追踪著年輕的藍色恒星團和粉紅色的星際形成區。圖像中還包含了NGC 2903明亮核心的迷人細節，這裡是一個老、年輕星團及巨大塵埃和氣體雲的驚人混合體。事實上，NGC 2903在中心附近顯示出卓越的星形成活動，並且在無線電、紅外線、紫外線和X射線波段中也非常明亮。NGC 2903的直徑約為80,000光年，與我們的銀河系相差不大。
#NGC2903 #星系 #獅子座 #螺旋星系 #星際形成 #天文學 #宇宙探索 #美麗的星空
來源:NASA每日圖片
