2017年01月30日:哈伯太空望远镜拍摄的猫眼星云-(The Cat's Eye Nebula from Hubble)--原图下载
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Reprocessing & Copyright: Raul Villaverde
说明: 对某些人来说,它看来像一只猫眼睛。不过,这团隔着星际空间凝视着地球的迷人猫眼星云,离我们足足有3千光年远。猫眼星云 (NGC 6543) 是个典型的行星状星云,是一颗类太阳恒星最后短暂而绚烂的谢幕式。星云内滨临死亡的中心星,可能在一系列规律的抽搐中抛掷出外层物质,因而形成外围简单同心圆状的气壳。不过,形态较複杂的美丽内围结构,其成因仍有许多不明之处。在这幅重新处理过的哈伯太空望远镜数位影像里,中心这只宇宙眼的宽度超过半光年。而在望进猫眼星云之时,天文学家也等同看见了我们太阳的宿命;将来,它也会演化到行星状星云阶段,只不过……这得再等个50亿年。
原文:
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Reprocessing & Copyright: Raul Villaverde
Explanation: To some, it may look like a cat's eye. Thealluring Cat's Eyenebula, however, lies three thousand light-years from Earth across interstellar space.A classicplanetarynebula, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, briefyetglorious phase in the life of a sun-like star.This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple,outer pattern of dustyconcentric shellsby shrugging offouterlayers in a series of regular convulsions.But the formation of the beautiful, more complexinner structures is not well understood.Seen so clearly inthis digitally reprocessed Hubble Space Telescope image,the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across.Of course,gazing into this Cat's Eye,astronomers may well be seeingthe fate of our sun, destined to enter its ownplanetary nebulaphase of evolution ... in about5 billion years.
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