Copyright:Simone Curzi
中文翻譯:
在遙遠的宇宙中，有一個名叫 NGC 1316 的巨大星系，它就像一個閃亮的白色寶石，距離我們約有7500萬光年。它在夜空中漂浮，帶著許多故事。我們的科學家們認為，這個星系曾經與一個更小的鄰居，名叫 NGC 1317 的星系相遇，這讓它的周圍產生了很多漂亮的星星流，它們就像宇宙中的小旋轉木馬。大約1億年前，這些光芒傳到了地球，告訴我們它們的故事。當我們用望遠鏡看這兩個星系時，會發現它們之間相隔十分遙遠，超過100,000光年。而在 NGC 1316 的中央，我們還能看到一些複雜的塵埃雲，這暗示著這個星系在過去也曾經與其他星系相互碰撞過。它位於 Fornax 星系團的邊緣，是這個地方最亮的一個，被稱為 Fornax A。它不僅美麗，也是宇宙中最強大和最大的無線電信號來源之一，這些信號向我們講述著這個龐大星系的秘密！
原文:
An example of violence on a cosmic scale, enormous elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 lies about 75 million light-years away toward Fornax, the southern constellation of the Furnace. Investigating the startling sight, astronomers suspect the giant galaxy of colliding with smaller neighbor NGC 1317 seen just right of the large galaxy’s center, producing far flung star streams in loops and shells. Light from their close encounter would have reached Earth some 100 million years ago. In the sharp telescopic image, the central regions of NGC 1316 and NGC 1317 appear separated by over 100,000 light-years. Complex dust lanes visible within also indicate that NGC 1316 is itself the result of a merger of galaxies in the distant past. Found on the outskirts of the Fornax galaxy cluster, NGC 1316 is known as Fornax A. One of the visually brightest of the Fornax cluster galaxies it is one of the strongest and largest celestial radio sources with radio emission extending well beyond this one degree wide field-of-view.
來源:NASA每日圖片
