M2-9：蝴蝶星云的翅膀
(原标题: M2-9: Wings of a Butterfly Nebula)
2023-04-16
浏览次数: 16
明星死后是否更能欣赏他们的艺术？实际上，恒星通常会在死亡时展现出最具艺术性的一面。在像太阳和M2-9这样的低质量恒星的情况下，这些恒星通过摆脱外部气体包层而从普通恒星转变为白矮星。被消耗的气体经常形成一种令人印象深刻的景象，称为行星状星云，在数千年的时间里逐渐消失。M2-9，一个2100光年外的蝴蝶状行星状星云，以代表性的颜色显示，它的翅膀讲述了一个奇怪但不完整的故事。在中心，两颗恒星在一个气体圆盘内运行，其轨道是冥王星的10倍。垂死恒星排出的外壳从圆盘上冲出，形成了双极的外观。造成和形成行星状星云的物理过程仍有许多未知之处。
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Are stars better appreciated for their art after they die? Actually, stars usually create their most artistic displays as they die. In the case of low-mass stars like our Sun and M2-9 pictured here, the stars transform themselves from normal stars to white dwarfs by casting off their outer gaseous envelopes. The expended gas frequently forms an impressive display called a planetary nebula that fades gradually over thousands of years. M2-9, a butterfly planetary nebula 2100 light-years away shown in representative colors, has wings that tell a strange but incomplete tale. In the center, two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk 10 times the orbit of Pluto. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from the disk creating the bipolar appearance. Much remains unknown about the physical processes that cause and shape planetary nebulae.