Copyright:Mike Selby
中文翻譯:
在遙遠的空中，有三個神秘的星系，它們的距離有190百萬光年，這可是遠遠超過我們銀河系（Milky Way）的燦爛星星和星雲呢！這三個星系因為重力而被吸引在一起，展開了一場迷人的宇宙舞蹈。這兩個大螺旋星系NGC6769和NGC6770，就像美麗的舞者一樣，面對著我們，看起來受到了宇宙的影響，變得有些變形。它們的熾亮光輝和美麗的螺旋臂上，還有很多年輕的藍色星團，都是在大雲團相撞後新生出來的。下面的NGC6771，更像是一位優雅的舞者，側身展示它的舞姿，它的方形中央讓人想起宇宙中的潮汐之力。當然，在遙遠的未來，這三個星系會合併成為一個更大更美麗的星系！這個星系三重奏，還被一些人稱作“魔鬼的面具”，它們的距離讓我們都想要用望遠鏡來觀察，一個畫面可以跨越30萬光年，位於南方星座的羽毛座（Pavo）裡。雖然這一切看起來遙不可及，但它讓我們對宇宙充滿了好奇！
原文:
Some 190 million light-years away, far beyond the bright stars and nebulae of the Milky Way, these three galaxies are drawn together by gravity in a mesmerizing cosmic dance. Clearly distorted by galactic-scale gravitational interactions, large spiral galaxies NGC6769 and NGC6770 are seen face-on, with luminous galactic disks scarred by obscuring interstellar dust lanes. Their young blue star clusters along drawn out spiral arms are spawned in star forming regions that result from collisions of massive molecular clouds. Below, spiral NGC6771 presents a more edge-on perspective, its boxy central bulge due to tidal star streams. Of course, in the distant future a merger of the three galaxies is inevitable. At the estimated distance of this galaxy trio, known to some as the Devil’s Mask, the sharp telescopic frame spans over 300 thousand light-years within the boundaries of the far southern constellation Pavo.
來源:NASA每日圖片
