Copyright:R. Jay Gabany
中文翻譯:
在幽暗的夜空中，有一顆非常明亮的星團，叫做M13，它也被稱為大球狀星團。這個星團就像一顆閃亮的寶石，裡面有數十萬顆星星，這些星星聚在一起，形成了美麗的畫面。M13距離我們25,000光年遠，這裡的星星聚集在一個直徑150光年的範圍內。當我們朝著星團的中心看時，發現三條黑色的線條會在星團底部出現，這些線條的間距大約有120度。這種形狀叫做M13的螺旋槳，可能只是因為我們的視角與星星的分布有關，是一種偶然的光學效果。這些觀察讓我們更加欣賞宇宙中的奇妙！
原文:
In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, “This is but a little Patch, but it shews itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent.” Of course, M13 is now less modestly recognized as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. Sharp telescopic views like this one reveal the spectacular cluster’s hundreds of thousands of stars. At a distance of 25,000 light-years, the cluster stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter. Approaching the cluster core, upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3 light-years on a side. For comparison with our neighborhood of the Milky Way, the closest star to the Sun is over 4 light-years away. Early telescopic observers of the great globular cluster also noted a curious convergence of three dark lanes with a spacing of about 120 degrees, seen here just below the cluster center. Known as the propeller in M13, the shape is likely a chance optical effect of the distribution of stars viewed from our perspective against the dense cluster core.
來源:NASA每日圖片
