Astronomy Picture of the Day——猎户座磁场

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Magnetic Orion

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, SOFIA, D. Chuss et al. & ESO, M. McCaughreanet al.

Explanation:Can magnetism affect how stars form? Recent analysis of Orion data from theHAWC+ instrument on the airborne SOFIA observatory indicate that, at times, itcan. HAWC+ is able to measure the polarization of far-infrared light which canreveal the alignment of dust grains by expansive ambient magnetic fields. Inthe featured image, these magnetic fields are shown as curvy lines superposedon an infrared image of the Orion Nebula taken by a Very Large Telescope inChile. Orion's Kleinmann-Low Nebula is visible slightly to the upper right ofthe image center, while bright stars of the Trapezium cluster are visible justto the lower left of center. The Orion Nebula at about l300 light years distantis the nearest major star formation region to the Sun.

猎户座磁场

解释：磁力能影响恒星如何形成吗？最近对机载SOFIA天文台的HAWC+仪器获得的猎户座数据进行的分析表明，磁力有时候确实能影响恒星形成。HAWC+能测量远红外光的偏振，从而揭示出在膨胀的环境磁场作用下尘埃颗粒的排列。在这幅影像中，这些磁场呈现为叠加在智利的甚大望远镜拍摄的猎户座大星云的红外影像上的曲线。猎户座的克莱曼-洛星云在影像中心的右上方可以看到，而四边形星团的亮星在影像中心的左下方可以看到。约1300光年远的猎户星云是最靠近太阳的恒星形成区。