中文翻譯:
在星空中，有一個美麗的星雲叫做水晶球星雲（Crystal Ball Nebula），它在距離我們1,500光年的地方，這幅圖片是由夏威夷的Gemini North望遠鏡拍攝的。這個星雲是1790年由天文學家威廉·赫歇爾（William Herschel）發現的。當一顆星星變成紅巨星時，它會把外面的氣體層推出來，形成這個星雲。當這些氣體被星星的中心加熱到比我們的太陽表面更高的溫度時，它們就會發出亮光，形成像這樣的美麗圖像。水晶球星雲的形狀有點不對稱，這裡面有一個小秘密：在星雲中央的亮星有一位伴侶星。這兩顆星星大約每九年會繞著彼此轉動，並影響周圍的氣體。大約在10,000到25,000年後，這個星雲會被它們的星風消散消失。
原文:
What do you see in this crystal ball? The featured image shows NGC 1514, known as the Crystal Ball Nebula, observed by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, in Hawai’i. NGC 1514 is 1,500 light-years away and was discovered by William Herschel in 1790. This planetary nebula is formed when a star becomes a red giant and ejects its outer gas layers. The ejected shell of gas is heated up by the core of the star to temperatures hotter than the surface of our Sun: that makes the gas shine, creating beautiful images like this one. The slightly asymmetrical shape of the Crystal Ball Nebula reveals a secret: the bright star in the center has a companion. As the two stars orbit each other with a period of about nine years, they shape the gas around them. In about 10,000 – 25,000 years the nebula will be dissipated by their stellar winds.
來源:NASA每日圖片
