Copyright:John Hayes
中文翻譯:
在浩瀚的宇宙中，有一些神秘的星際雲塊，它們好像是塊塊黑黑的棉花糖，漂浮在閃爍的星星和發光的氣體中。這些雲塊非常大，甚至可能能形成新的星星！它們的家叫做 IC 2944，距離我們大約 7,600 光年，位於半人馬座（Centaurus）這個神奇的星座中。其中一個最大的黑塊，最早是由 A. D. Thackeray 在 1950 年用南非的望遠鏡發現的，可能實際上是兩個重疊的雲，各自寬度超過一光年。根據來自智利 El Sauce 天文台的哈伯望遠鏡圖像和其他數據，這些護盾星雲因為周圍熱熱的年輕星星發出的強烈紫外線而變得破碎不堪，就像鍋裡的奶油塊在熱油裡融化一樣！這些星際塊塊和其他星際雲朵同樣可能會因為這樣的環境而逐漸消失，就像在鍋裡的奶油一樣。
原文:
What are these strange space globs? Situated in rich star fields and glowing hydrogen gas, these opaque clouds of interstellar dust and gas are so large they might be able to form stars. Their home is known as IC 2944, a bright stellar nursery located about 7,600 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus). The largest of these dark globules, first spotted by A. D. Thackeray in 1950 using a telescope in South Africa, is likely two separate but overlapping clouds, each more than one light-year wide. Along with other data, the featured Hubble palette image from the El Sauce Observatory in Chile, indicates that Thackeray’s globules are fractured and churning as a result of intense ultraviolet radiation from young, hot stars already energizing and heating the bright emission nebula. These and similar dark globules known to be associated with other star forming regions may ultimately be dissipated by their hostile environment — like cosmic lumps of butter in a hot frying pan. Interstellar Jigsaw: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
來源:NASA每日圖片
