M64：黑眼星系特写
(原标题: M64: The Black Eye Galaxy Close Up)
2023-07-20
浏览次数: 18
这个壮观的螺旋星系是梅西耶64，通常被称为黑眼星系或睡美人星系，因为在望远镜视图中它的深色盖子外观。这张由哈勃太空望远镜重新处理的图像显示了螺旋的中心区域，直径约7400光年。M64距离我们大约1700万光年远，位于北方的后发座（Coma Berenices）。巨大的尘埃云部分遮蔽了M64的中心区域，其中点缀着年轻的蓝色星团和与恒星形成区域相关的红色氢光。但壮观的尘埃云并不是这个星系唯一的特色。观测表明M64实际上是由两个同心的反向旋转系统组成的。虽然M64中的所有恒星都与星系中心区域的星际气体以相同的方向旋转，但延伸到约40,000光年外的外部区域的气体却以相反的方向旋转。尘埃之眼和奇怪的旋转可能是10亿年前两个不同星系合并的结果。
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This magnificent spiral galaxy is Messier 64, often called the Black Eye Galaxy or the Sleeping Beauty Galaxy for its dark-lidded appearance in telescopic views. The spiral's central region, about 7,400 light-years across, is pictured in this reprocessed image from the Hubble Space Telescope. M64 lies some 17 million light-years distant in the otherwise well-groomed northern constellation Coma Berenices. The enormous dust clouds partially obscuring M64's central region are laced with young, blue star clusters and the reddish glow of hydrogen associated with star forming regions. But imposing clouds of dust are not this galaxy's only peculiar feature. Observations show that M64 is actually composed of two concentric, counter-rotating systems. While all the stars in M64 rotate in the same direction as the interstellar gas in the galaxy's central region, gas in the outer regions, extending to about 40,000 light-years, rotates in the opposite direction. The dusty eye and bizarre rotation are likely the result of a billion year old merger of two different galaxies.