Sh2-308: A Dolphin Shaped Star Bubble
Image Credit & Copyright: Aleix Roig (AstroCatInfo)
Explanation: Which star created this bubble? It wasn’t the bright star on the bubble’s right. And it also wasn’t a giant space dolphin. It was the star in the blue nebula’s center, a famously energetic Wolf-Rayet star. Wolf-Rayet stars in general have over 20 times the mass of our Sun and expel fast particle winds that can create iconic looking nebulas. In this case, the resulting star bubble spans over 60 light years, is about 70,000 years old, and happens to look like the head of a dolphin. Named Sh2-308 and dubbed the Dolphin-Head Nebula, the gas ball lies about 5,000 light years away and covers as much sky as the full moon — although it is much dimmer. The nearby red-tinged clouds on the left of the featured image may owe their glow and shape to energetic light emitted from the same Wolf-Rayet star.
Tomorrow’s picture: celestial thingy
SH2-308: 海豚状的恒星气泡
图像提供与版权: Aleix Roig (AstroCatInfo)
说明: 是那颗恒星产生了这团气泡？并不是气泡右侧的亮星。同时它也不是一头庞大的太空海豚。造就这个气泡的恒星，是位在这团泛蓝星云中心的活跃沃尔夫-拉叶星。沃尔夫-拉叶星的质量通常是太阳的20倍以上，能发出高速粒子风形成这类形状具有特征性的星云。在此案例里，所产生的星云宽度超过60光年，年龄约为70,000年，而形状恰好很像海豚的头部。这个编录号为Sh2-308、昵称为海豚头星云的团状云气，距离我们约5,000光年远，在天空的张角和满月相当，只是亮度远为暗淡。在这幅主题图像左侧的泛红云气，其形状及之所会发光，可能也是受到这颗沃尔夫-拉叶星辐射的高能星光之塑形及激发。
明日的图片: celestial thingy
