Copyright:Team Ciel Austral
Text:
Cecilia Chirenti
(NASA
GSFC,
UMCP,
CRESST II)
中文翻譯:
遠在6百萬光年之外，有一個閃閃發光、五顏六色的寶石，那就是旋渦星系NGC 300！可是，它真的是這樣的顏色嗎？這裡有一幅更標準的畫像。這幅特別的圖片結合了星星和星系內塵埃的光，以及來自星際氣體雲的光。這些氣體雲以紅色（硫）、綠色（氫）和藍色（氧）顯示。當紅色和綠色的光以不同的比例混合時，就會形成黃色或橙色的光，這在圖片中顯得最為明顯。其實，其他離子化氣體的光，也在霓虹燈、螢光燈和街燈中發揮著作用。這些龐大的離子氣體雲通常是由年輕、高質量的恆星所形成的。這些恆星會產生強大的紫外線輻射，使氣體變成帶電的。相比起像我們太陽這樣的較輕恆星，這些大型恆星的壽命比較短暫，最後會以超新星的形式爆炸。在這幅圖片中，有些色彩繽紛的雲朵可能隱藏著超新星的殘骸。
原文:
This sparkling, colorful gemstone is a spiral galaxy, NGC 300. It is one of the closest spiral galaxies to Earth, only about 6 million light-years away. But does it really look like this? Here is a more standard portrait of it. This unusual image combines the light from the stars and dust within the galaxy with the light from ionized clouds of interstellar gas shown in red (Sulphur), green (Hydrogen) and blue (Oxygen). Combining red and green light in different proportions makes yellow or orange light, most visible in the image. Light from other ionized gases is also at work in neon signs, fluorescent tubes and street lights. These massive clouds of ionized gas are typically created by young, massive stars that produce high-energy ultraviolet radiation capable of ionizing the gas. Massive stars are short-lived, compared with lighter stars like our sun, and explode as supernovas at the end of their lives. Some of the colorful clouds in the image could be hiding supernova remnants.
來源:NASA每日圖片
