NGC 4632：隐藏极环星系
(原标题: NGC 4632: Galaxy with a Hidden Polar Ring)
2023-09-13
浏览次数: 12
NGC 4632星系隐藏着一个光学望远镜无法探测到的秘密。它周围环绕着一圈低温的氢气，绕着它的螺旋盘旋转90度。这种极环星系以前是利用星光发现的。然而，ngc4632是第一个通过射电望远镜观测发现极环的星系之一。这张特色合成图像结合了高灵敏度ASKAP望远镜观测到的气体环和斯巴鲁望远镜的光学数据。利用虚拟现实技术，天文学家将星系主盘上的气体从光环中分离出来，微妙的颜色渐变追踪了它的轨道运动。为什么会有极环呢？它们可能是一个星系与另一个伴星引力相互作用时产生的物质。或者氢气沿着宇宙网的细丝流动，在星系周围聚集成一个环，其中一些在引力作用下收缩成恒星。
查看原文解释
Galaxy NGC 4632 hides a secret from optical telescopes. It is surrounded by a ring of cool hydrogen gas orbiting at 90 degrees to its spiral disk. Such polar ring galaxies have previously been discovered using starlight. However, NGC 4632 is among the first in which a radio telescope survey revealed a polar ring. The featured composite image combines this gas ring, observed with the highly sensitive ASKAP telescope, with optical data from the Subaru telescope. Using virtual reality, astronomers separated out the gas in the main disk of the galaxy from the ring, and the subtle color gradient traces its orbital motion. Why do polar rings exist? They could be material pulled from one galaxy as it gravitationally interacts with a companion. Or hydrogen gas flows along the filaments of the cosmic web and accretes into a ring around a galaxy, some of which gravitationally contracts into stars.