charles

Magellanic Morning



影像版權與提供: Chris Schur

Explanation:
     This early morning skyscape recorded near Winton, Queensland, Australia, looks toward the southeast. Low clouds are seen in silhouette against the first hints of sunlight, while two famous cosmic clouds, the Clouds of Magellan, also hover in the brightening sky. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC, upper right), and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are prominent wonders of the southern sky, named for the 16th century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. They are small, irregular galaxies in their own right, satellites of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. The SMC is about 210,000 light-years and the LMC about 180,000 light-years away. At lower left, bright star Canopus (Alpha Carinae), denizen of the Milky Way, is a mere 310 light-years distant.

說明:
      這幅靜謐的清晨星空影像，是在澳洲．昆士蘭省的Winton遠眺東南方時所拍攝的。 在第一道曙光的襯托下，低層雲以剪影現蹤，而二個著名的"宇宙星雲"--麥哲倫星系也高懸在漸亮的天空中。 小麥哲倫星系 (SMC；右上)和大麥哲倫星系 (LMC)是南半球星空的明亮珍寶，它們是因16世紀的葡萄牙環球航海家麥哲倫而得名； 二者皆是小型的不規則星系，也都是我們龐大的螺旋狀銀河系之衛星星系。 小麥哲倫星系離我們約有21萬光年遠，大麥哲倫星系約為18萬光年遠，而位在影像左下方的明亮老人星 (Canopus；船底座a星)，距離則只有310光年。

資料來源: Scientific American
                 Department of Physics, NCKU