Astronomy Picture of the Day——星云深空场

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.

2019March 9

CocoonNebula Deep Field

ImageCredit & Copyright: Marcel Drechsler (Baerenstein Obs.)

Explanation:Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. The cosmicCocoon on the upper right also punctuates a long trail of obscuringinterstellar dust clouds to its left. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautifulnebula is nearly 15 light-years wide, located some 3,300 light years awaytoward the northern constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). Like other star formingregions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hotstars and blue, dust-reflected starlight at the edge of a nearly invisiblemolecular cloud. In fact, the bright star near the center of this nebula islikely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as itslowly clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas.This exceptionally deep color view of the Cocoon Nebula traces tantalizingfeatures within and surrounding the dusty stellar nursery.

星云深空场

解释：茧状星云内部是一个新生的星团，右上方这个宇宙蚕茧给它左面的星际尘埃云的长长行迹打上了一个句号。这个美丽的星云编号为IC 5146，宽约15光年，距离约3300光年，位于天鹅座。和其它恒星形成区一样，炽热的年轻恒星激发的红色发光氢气和在几乎不可见的分子云的边缘被尘埃反射的蓝色星光，两者都很夺目。事实上，这个星云的中心附近的亮星可能仅约数十万岁，为星云的辉光提供了能量，它缓慢地在正在形成恒星的尘埃和气体中清出一个空洞。茧状星云的这幅深空影像呈现了这个恒星幼儿园内部和周遭的诱人特征。