Pressemeddelelse
"Den smilende Kat" - en tåge fanget på nyt ESO-billede
27. juni 2023
Den kosmiske sky her, i orange og rødt, er en del af tågen SH2-284, og vi ser den her i udsøgte detaljer ved hjælp af data fra VLT Survey Telescope, som holder til på European Southern Observatory (ESO). Tågen myldrer med unge stjerner, fordi gas og støv i den klumper sig sammen og danner nye stjerner. Set i sin helhed kan man måske få den til at ligne et kattehoved, som smiler til os fra himlen.
Stjernefødestuen Sh2-284 er et enormt område, som består af gasarter og støv, og den klarest lysende del, som ses i billedet her, har en diameter på omkring 150 lysår (det er mere end 1400 billioner kilometer) i diameter. Det befinder sig omkring 15 000 lysår fra Jorden i retning af stjernebilledet Monoceros (Enhjørningen).
Helt inde i centrum af den klareste del af tågen - lige under "kattens" snude - findes en hob unge stjerner, som har navnet Dolidze 25. Her skabes store mængder af kraftig stråling og stjernevinde. Strålingen er tilstrækkeligt kraftig til at ionisere hydrogengasserne i skyen, og derfra komme dens klare orange og røde farver. Det er i skyer af denne slags, at byggestenene til nye stjerner dannes.
Vindene fra den centrale stjernehob skubber gas og støv i tågen bort, så centeret bliver udhulet. Hvor vindene mødes af tættere områder med stof, får de større modstand, og det betyder, at områderne udenomkring nedbrydes først. Et resultat er, at der dannes adskillige søjler, som kan ses rundt langs kanterne af Sh2-284, hvorfra de peger ind imod centeret af tågen. Den i højre side af billedet er særligt tydelig. Nok ser søjlerne små ud på billedet, men de er faktisk adskillige lysår i diameter, og de indeholder enorme mængder af gas og støv til dannelse af nye stjerner.
Billedet er skabt ud fra data fra VLT Survey Telescope (VST), som ejes af The National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, INAF, og som står på ESOs Paranal Observatorium i Chile. VST er specielt bestemt til at kortlægge sydhimlen i synligt lys og til det bruges et kamera med 256 millioner pixels, som er specialdesignet til at kunne optage meget vidvinklede billeder. Billedet her er optaget i forbindelse med projektet VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+), hvor der til nu er undersøgt omkring 500 millioner objekter i vores egen galakse, så vi med dem bedre kan forstå stjernernes fødsel, liv og sluttelige død i vores Mælkevej.
Links
- Fotos af VST
- Andre billeder optaget med VST
- For journalister: abonnér for at modtage vore pressemeddelelser på dit eget sprog
- For forskere: Har du en god historie? Så giv os et praj
Kontakter
Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
ESO Media Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6176
E-mail: jmunoz@eso.org
Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Mobil: +49 151 241 664 00
E-mail: press@eso.org
Ole J. Knudsen (Pressekontakt Danmark)
ESOs formidlingsnetværk
og Aarhus Space Centre, Aarhus Universitet
Aarhus, Danmark
Tel: +45 8715 5597
E-mail: eson-denmark@eso.org
Om pressemeddelelsen
Pressemeddelelse nr.: | eso2309da |
Navn: | Sh2-284 |
Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region |
Facility: | VLT Survey Telescope |
Instruments: | OmegaCAM |
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