NGC 604：庞大的恒星育婴室

NGC 604：庞大的恒星育婴室

NGC 604: Giant Stellar Nursery
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Explanation: Located some 3 million light-years away in the arms of nearby spiral galaxy M33, giant stellar nursery NGC 604 is about 1,300 light-years across. That’s nearly 100 times the size of the Milky Way’s Orion Nebula, the closest large star forming region to planet Earth. In fact, among the star forming regions within the Local Group of galaxies, NGC 604 is second in size only to 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Cavernous bubbles and cavities in NGC 604 fill this stunning infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam. They are carved out by energetic stellar winds from the region’s more than 200 hot, massive, young stars, all still in early stages of their lives.

Tomorrow’s picture: Regulus and the Dwarf Galaxy

NGC 604：庞大的恒星育婴室
影像提供: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

说明: 宽约1,300光年的庞大恒星形成区NGC 604，座落在离我们约3百万光年远的邻近螺旋星系M33之螺旋臂上。其大小几乎是银河系猎户座大星云的100倍，而猎户座大星云则为离地球最近的大型恒星形成区。事实上，在本星系群的恒星形成区域之中，NGC 604的大小仅次于大麦哲伦星系的剑鱼30（亦称蜘蛛星云）。在这幅来自韦伯太空望远镜近红外光相机的精采红外光影像里，可见到NGC 604满布着庞大的气泡和空洞。这些气泡和空洞，则都是由此区的200多颗炽热、尚处在生命初期阶段的大质量恒星之强烈恒星风所刻蚀出来的。

明日的图片: Regulus and the Dwarf Galaxy