【▲ 輝線星雲「RCW 120」（Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab); Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) ）】
This is an emission nebula about 4,300 light-years away in the direction of Scorpio.「RCW 120」(or “Sh 2-3”) figure. The striking red light that makes the nebula look like a blazing flame is emitted from hydrogen gas that has been ionized by the ultraviolet radiation emitted by young, hot, massive stars.
Such regions where ionized hydrogen gas emits light areHII areais called Stars are formed from gas and dust in the HII regionstar formation fieldBut because it is the site where new stars are born“Cradle of Stars”It is also called.
According to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Institute of Optical and Infrared Astronomy (NOIRLab), which released the image, RCW 120A newborn star that could become one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way galaxyis said to have been discovered.This star is the space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA)“Hershel”It was found in the observation of8-10 times the mass of the SunIt is estimated that there is, and it seems that it may grow further over the next hundreds of thousands of years by incorporating the surrounding gas and dust (about 2000 times the mass of the Sun).
The top image was taken using the SMARTS 0.9m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), July 2022 from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Institute for Optical and Infrared Astronomy (NOIRLab). Published on the 27th.
connection:“Tarantula Nebula” of the Large Magellanic Cloud observed by radio waves and infrared rays
Source
- Image Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab); Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
- NOIRLab – A Crimson Nursery
- ESA – Herschel reveals the hidden side of star birth
Text/Matsumura Takehiro