本帖最后由 gohomeman1 于 2010-4-20 00:40 编辑
19 April 2010： The Glow of the Lagoon Nebula
2010.4.19：明亮的礁湖星云
Gas and dust condense, beginning the process of creating new stars in this image of Messier 8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula. Located four to five thousand light-years away, in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer), the nebula is a giant interstellar cloud, one hundred light-years across. It boasts many large, hot stars, whose ultraviolet radiation sculpts the gas and dust into unusual shapes. Two of these giant stars illuminate the brightest part of the nebula, known as the Hourglass Nebula, a spiralling, funnel-like shape near its centre. Messier 8 is one of the few star-forming nebulae visible to the unaided eye, and was discovered as long ago as 1747, although the full range of colours wasn’t visible until the advent of more powerful telescopes. The Lagoon Nebula derives its name from the wide lagoon-shaped dark lane located in the middle of the nebula that divides it into two glowing sections.
M8又名礁湖星云，位于人马座，离我们约4~5千光年，是个巨型星际气体云，宽约100光年。图中的气体尘埃正在形成新的恒星。星云中包含许多炽热巨星，它们强烈的紫外辐射蚀刻气体尘埃，形成各个奇特外形。2个最亮的巨星照亮了星云中心螺旋状漏斗星云——沙漏星云。M8是极少数肉眼可见的恒星诞生区，早在1747年就被发现记载，当然要看清星云全貌需在很强大的望远镜发明后。礁湖星云的命名缘由是：星云中部泻湖状的尘埃暗带分隔星云成2个发光区域。
This image combines observations performed through three different filters (B, V, R) with the 1.5-metre Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile.
本图由位于智利的ESO拉斯拉天文台 1.5米丹麦望远镜拍摄，合成图像采用了三色滤光拍摄：红、黄绿（可见光）、蓝。 |
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