鹰状星云的仙女
The Fairy of Eagle Nebula
Image Credit: Image Credit: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Explanation: The dust sculptures of the Eagle Nebula are evaporating. As powerful starlight whittles away these cool cosmic mountains, the statuesque pillars that remain might be imagined as mythical beasts. Featured here is one of several striking dust pillars of the Eagle Nebula that might be described as a gigantic alien fairy. This fairy, however, is ten light years tall and spews radiation much hotter than common fire. The greater Eagle Nebula, M16, is actually a giant evaporating shell of gas and dust inside of which is a growing cavity filled with a spectacular stellar nursery currently forming an open cluster of stars. This great pillar, which is about 7,000 light years away, will likely evaporate away in about 100,000 years. The featured image is in scientifically re-assigned colors and was taken by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
Tomorrow’s picture: earth without water
鹰状星云的仙女
影像提供: NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
说明: 鹰状星云的众多尘埃雕塑正在蒸发之中。随着强烈星光慢慢削去冰冷的宇宙山峰，让这些残存的雕像般云气柱，看来像是神话中的珍禽异兽。上面这幅影像，呈现了鹰状星云数根精采的尘埃柱之一，因为它看似一尊巨大的外星仙女。只不过，这位仙女的身高足有10光年，而且会喷出比人间凡火温度高非常多的辐射。整个鹰状星云 (M16)，事实上是一个庞大且在蒸发之中的云气和尘埃壳，内部藏着一个不断成长的空穴，空穴内有正在形成疏散星团的庞大恒星诞生区。这根距离我们约7,000光年远的庞大云柱，则可能会在100,000年左右蒸发殆尽。这张由哈勃太空望远所拍摄的主题影像，其色泽根据科学内涵重新置换过。
明日的图片: earth without water
