Copyright:
原文:
Why isn’t this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round? Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star visible above at the nebula’s center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star’s own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth. Celebration: 25 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope
中文翻譯:
為何這隻螞蟻不是一個大圓球呢？行星狀星雲 Mz3 正在被一顆類似我們太陽的恆星所拋射出來，這顆恆星明顯是圓形的，那為何流出的氣體會形成一個呈現螞蟻形狀的星雲，而不是圓形呢？一些提示可能包括被驅逐的氣體速度高達每秒 1000 公里、這個結構的長度達光年，以及位於星雲中心的恆星的磁性。 一個可能的答案是 Mz3 正隱藏著一顆第二顆更暗的恆星，這顆恆星在明亮的恆星周圍緊密軌道運行。另一個競爭假說則認為，中央恆星的自轉和磁場正在引導這些氣體流出。由於中央恆星看似與我們的太陽非常相似，天文學家希望進一步了解這隻巨型太空螞蟻的歷史，能為我們的太陽和地球未來提供有用的見解。
#行星狀星雲 #Mz3 #太空 #恆星 #Hubble25周年 #太陽系 #天文學探索 #宇宙奧秘 #螞蟻星雲
來源:NASA每日圖片
