在这张由NASA斯必泽望远镜拍摄的新红外图像中展示了一些恒星的成长历程。在这个称作W5的小束星形区域，那些在二个空心洞中心的蓝点就是最老的恒星，(其他蓝色小点是背景，另外那些前景星并不是这个区域里的）外缘部分分布着较为年轻的恒星， 白色多节的区域是最年轻恒星形成的地方。W5跨过天空区域相当于四满月并且是在大约6,500个光年的仙后座。Spitzer图片拍摄周期超过了24小时 。像其他巨型恒星形成的区域，例如Orion和船底座，W5包含了由大质量恒星通过辐射和星风所带来的巨大物质。根据被触发恒星形成的理论，由于位于空洞外面的气体被压入中央后，点燃了恒星时代的连续，这个图象包含一些对被触发恒星形成理论的最佳证据。分析相片的科学家表示，恒星年龄的大小与到空洞中央的距离成系统的正比关系。
这张相片由Spitzer的红外列阵照相机拍了，它是由四种颜色综合，以3.6微米光的波长是蓝色的; 4.5微米光是绿色的; 5.8微米光橙色; 并且8微米光是红色的。
Generations of stars can be seen in this new infrared portrait from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In this wispy star-forming region, called W5, the oldest stars can be seen as blue dots in the centers of the two hollow cavities (other blue dots are background and foreground stars not associated with the region). Younger stars line the rims of the cavities, and some can be seen as dots at the tips of the elephant-trunk-like pillars. The white knotty areas are where the youngest stars are forming.
W5 spans an area of sky equivalent to four full moons and is about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. The Spitzer picture was taken over a period of 24 hours.
Like other massive star-forming regions, such as Orion and Carina, W5 contains large cavities that were carved out by radiation and winds from the region's most massive stars. According to the theory of triggered star-formation, the carving out of these cavities pushes gas together, causing it to ignite into successive generations of new stars.
This image contains some of the best evidence yet for the triggered star-formation theory. Scientists analyzing the photo have been able to show that the ages of the stars become progressively and systematically younger with distance from the center of the cavities.
This picture was taken with Spitzer's infrared array camera. It is a four-color composite, in which light with a wavelength of 3.6 microns is blue; 4.5-micron light is green; 5.8-micron light is orange; and 8-micron light is red.
自翻，图片、英文文字与信息来源都由拉玛提供。。。
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