V838月的光回波
(原标题: Light Echoes from V838 Mon)
2022-06-26
浏览次数: 16
V838月亮爆发的原因是什么？由于未知的原因，月亮V838星的外表面突然大幅膨胀，结果它在2002年初成为银河系中最亮的恒星之一。然后，就像突然一样，它缩小了，消失了。像这样的恒星闪光以前从未见过——超新星和新星将物质驱逐到太空中。尽管V838 Mon闪光似乎向太空中喷射物质，但在哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的特色图像中看到的实际上是原始闪光向外扩展的光回声。在光回波中，来自闪光的光被已经包围恒星的复杂星际尘埃阵列中越来越远的表面反射。月亮V838位于大约2万光年外的独角兽星座（麒麟座），而上面的光回声直径约为6光年。
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What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon's outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became one of the brighter stars in the Milky Way Galaxy in early 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it shrunk and faded. A stellar flash like this had never been seen before -- supernovas and novas expel matter out into space. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the featured image from the Hubble Space Telescope is actually an outwardly expanding light echo of the original flash. In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant surfaces in the complex array of ambient interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V838 Mon lies about 20,000 light years away toward the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros), while the light echo above spans about six light years in diameter.