IC 342: Camelopardalis的隐藏星系
(原标题: IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis)
2023-11-22
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IC 342的大小与我们附近的大型明亮螺旋星系相似，它距离我们只有1000万光年，位于长颈的鹿豹座北部。IC 342是一个庞大的岛屿宇宙，否则它将是我们夜空中一个突出的星系，但它隐藏在清晰的视野中，只能通过我们银河系平面上的恒星、气体和尘埃云的面纱瞥见。尽管IC 342的光线因宇宙云的介入而变暗变红，但这张清晰的望远镜图像沿着远离星系核心的旋臂追踪了星系本身的模糊尘埃、年轻星团和发光的恒星形成区域。IC 342最近经历了一次恒星形成活动的爆发，距离足够近，足以对当地星系群和银河系的演化产生引力影响。
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Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant in the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise be a prominent galaxy in our night sky, but it is hidden from clear view and only glimpsed through the veil of stars, gas and dust clouds along the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. Even though IC 342's light is dimmed and reddened by intervening cosmic clouds, this sharp telescopic image traces the galaxy's own obscuring dust, young star clusters, and glowing star forming regions along spiral arms that wind far from the galaxy's core. IC 342 has undergone a recent burst of star formation activity and is close enough to have gravitationally influenced the evolution of the local group of galaxies and the Milky Way.
© Steve Cannistra