环状星云的外环
Rings Around the Ring Nebula
Image Credit: Hubble, Large Binocular Telescope, Subaru Telescope; Composition & Copyright: Robert Gendler
Explanation: The Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope. The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep exposure – a collaborative effort combining data from three different large telescopes – explores the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from the nebula’s central star. This composite image includes red light emitted by hydrogen as well as visible and infrared light. The Ring Nebula is an elongated planetary nebula, a type of nebula created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere to become a white dwarf star. The Ring Nebula is about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical constellation Lyra.
Amateur Astronomers: Please take the Night Sky Network’s Survey
Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space dust
环状星云的外环
影像提供: Hubble, Large Binocular Telescope, Subaru Telescope; 组合影像制作与版权: Robert Gendler
说明: 环状星云（M57）的结构，比小望远镜所见的要复杂。轻易可见的中心环，宽约1光年，不过如这幅整合3部大望远镜协同观测数据的极深空影像所示，在离这团星云中心星很远之处，还有许多会散发辉光的环状云气丝。这幅组合影像，结合了氢原子的红光辐射、可见光和红外光。环状星云是个外观偏长的的行星状星云，是一颗类太阳恒星演化成白矮星时，所抛出的外层大气。环状星云位在天琴座方向约2,500光年远之处。
业余天文学家: 请参加夜空网的调查
明日的图片: pixels in space dust
