The Star Clusters of NGC 1313
Credit NASA, ESA, Anne Pellerin (STScI)
Explanation:
Like grains of sand on a cosmic beach, individual stars of barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 are resolved in this sharp composite from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The inner region of the galaxy is pictured, spanning about 10,000 light-years. Hubble's unique ability to distinguish individual stars in the 14 million light-year distant galaxy has been used to unravel the fate of star clusters whose bright young stars are spread through the disk of the galaxy as the clusters dissolve. The exploration of stars and clusters in external galaxy NGC 1313 offers clues to star formation and star cluster evolution in our own Milky Way.
說明:
這張照片就像是宇宙沙灘上的 沙點，這是利用哈伯太空望遠鏡巡天用的進階型攝影機(Advanced Camera for Surveys) (ACS)所拍攝的 照片 可以解析出棒狀漩渦狀星系 NGC 1313的個別星點。 這張照片顯示星系中心區域，寬約 10,000 光年。 哈伯太空望遠鏡能夠分辨距離我們一千四百萬光年遠的星系，可用來研究當 星團消散時，星團中年輕星球散佈在星系盤面的 命運。 探索星系NGC 1313的星球及星團能夠提供在本銀河系中星球形成及 星團演化的線索。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
