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WR 134环状星云

(原标题: WR 134 Ring Nebula)

2023-05-18

浏览次数: 11

这张用窄带滤光片拍摄的宇宙快照覆盖了天鹅座边界内满月大小的视野。它突出了一个环状星云的明亮边缘,通过电离的硫、氢和氧气体的发光来追踪。在该区域的星际气体云和尘埃云中,这些复杂的发光弧线是由沃尔夫-拉叶星WR 134(画面中心附近最亮的恒星)吹来的气泡或壳状物质的部分。据距离估计,WR 134距离我们约6000光年,使其直径超过50光年。在强大的恒星风中,巨大的沃尔夫-拉叶星以惊人的速度燃烧掉了它们的核燃料,以壮观的超新星爆炸结束了大质量恒星演化的最后阶段。恒星风和最后的超新星以重元素丰富了星际物质,这些重元素将被纳入未来几代恒星中。

查看原文解释

Made with narrowband filters, this cosmic snapshot covers a field of view about the size of the full Moon within the boundaries of the constellation Cygnus. It highlights the bright edge of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen gas. Embedded in the region's interstellar clouds of gas and dust, the complex, glowing arcs are sections of bubbles or shells of material swept up by the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, brightest star near the center of the frame. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away, making the frame over 50 light-years across. Shedding their outer envelopes in powerful stellar winds, massive Wolf-Rayet stars have burned through their nuclear fuel at a prodigious rate and end this final phase of massive star evolution in a spectacular supernova explosion. The stellar winds and final supernovae enrich the interstellar material with heavy elements to be incorporated in future generations of stars.

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