红外光下的草帽星系
(原标题: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared)
2023-08-13
浏览次数: 21
这个漂浮的环有一个星系那么大。事实上，它是一个星系——或者至少是一个星系的一部分：上镜的草帽星系，附近室女座星系团中最大的星系之一。在可见光下模糊了草帽星系中部的暗尘带实际上在红外光下发出明亮的光。这张经过数字锐化处理的特色图像显示了最近由绕轨道运行的斯皮策太空望远镜记录的红外光，并以假色叠加在由美国宇航局哈勃太空望远镜拍摄的可见光图像上。草帽星系，也被称为M104，直径约5万光年，距离我们2800万光年。在室女座方向用小型望远镜可以看到M104。
查看原文解释
This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is a galaxy -- or at least part of one: the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in optical light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The featured image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years across and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo.