下面这幅望远镜图像是靠近南冕座北边界的宽广天区，有大片宇宙尘埃横陈在繁星点点之中，该宇宙云距离我们可能不足500光年，最密集的地方有8光年宽，明显阻挡了来自更远处的银河系星光。图中右上角是这片尘埃的顶端，这里有一组迷人的反射星云，编号分别为：NGC 6726、6727、6729和IC 4812，它们特有的蓝色光辉是宇宙尘埃所反射的来自炽热恒星发出的光芒。较小的黄色星云NGC 6729环绕在年轻变星“南冕座R”周围，壮丽的球状星团NGC 6723则在图的右上角，虽然它看上去是这片天区的一部分，但实际上却远在30000光年之外，比南冕座尘埃云要远的多。
更多天文精彩文章请关注网易博客小组：天文爱好者。
Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds sprawl across a rich field of stars in this sweeping telescopic vista near the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Probably less than 500 light-years away and effectively blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the dust cloud is about 8 light-years long. At its tip (upper right) is a group of lovely reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812. A characteristic blue color is produced as light from hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The smaller yellowish nebula (NGC 6729) surroundsyoung variable star R Coronae Australis. Magnificent globular star cluster NGC 6723 is toward the upper right corner of the view. While NGC 6723 appears to be part of the group, it actually lies nearly 30,000 light-years away, far beyond the Corona Australis dust clouds.
每日天文一图（APOD）是美国宇航局天体物理学部每日定期发布的天文图片，并配有专业的简短解释，是小子时常光顾的地方，地址为：http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/。现将部分酷图转来并对原文解释做了翻译，英文及天文知识均有限，译错之处敬请各位指正。
秋天的麦兜 2011年6月27日 于济南。
评论