NGC 602 and Beyond
影像提供: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Explanation:
Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies 5 million year young star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by natal gas and dust, NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image of the region. Fantastic ridges and swept back shapes strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in the sharp Hubble view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years or more beyond NGC 602.
說明:
在小麥哲倫雲外圍，距離20萬光年遠的一個衛星星系裡頭，有一個年僅5百萬年的年輕星團 NGC 602。在這張哈伯望遠鏡拍攝的漂亮影像中，NGC 602 周圍仍然包覆著伴隨他們出生的氣體。夢幻的脊狀塵埃和雲氣說明了在NGC 602 裡面，從大質量年輕恆星發出的高能的輻射和震波已經影響到附近的塵埃，並從星雲中心往外觸發了一連串的恆星形成。藉由估計小麥哲倫雲的距離，我們得知這張影像在的範圍在宇宙中的大小約是200光年。但是仔細看，還有不少背景星系出現在哈伯太空望遠鏡銳利的影像中。這些背景星系位於NGC 602 的後面大約幾億光年遠甚至是更士的地方。
可參考: NGC 5067: 發射星雲的近照
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
