NASA: ‘X’-ploring the Eagle Nebula and ‘Pillars of Creation’(’X射线’-探索巨蛇座鹰状星云和"创造之柱")

This new composite image shows the region around the Pillars, which are about 5,700 light years from Earth. The image combines X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope optical data. The optical image, taken with filters to emphasize the interstellar gas and dust, shows dusty brown nebula immersed in a blue-green haze, and a few stars that appear as pink dots in the image. The Chandra data reveal X-rays from hot outer atmospheres from stars. In this image, low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra have been colored red, green, and blue.

from https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/m16-optical-xray.jpg

上图经过了压缩,原图有大约60MB, 原图请访问HERE.
The picture above has been compressed. The original picture is about 60 MB and it’s HERE.


The Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16, contains the young star cluster NGC 6611. It also the site of the spectacular star-forming region known as the Pillars of Creation, which is located in the southern portion of the Eagle Nebula.

鹰状星云,也被称作 Messier 16, 包含一个年轻的NGC 6611星团.它是一个壮丽的恒星区域的所在地,也就是"创造之柱"."创造之柱"位于鹰状星云的南部.

This new composite image shows the region around the Pillars, which are about 5,700 light years from Earth. The image combines X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope optical data. The optical image, taken with filters to emphasize the interstellar gas and dust, shows dusty brown nebula immersed in a blue-green haze, and a few stars that appear as pink dots in the image. The Chandra data reveal X-rays from hot outer atmospheres from stars. In this image, low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra have been colored red, green, and blue.

这张新合成的图片展示了"创造之柱"及其相关区域,这个区域距离地球大约有5,700光年.这幅图像整合了 NASA 的 Chandra X 射线天文台的X射线数据和 Hubble 太空望远镜的光学成像数据.这张光学图像被进行了过滤以突出星际气体和尘埃,灰褐色的星云沉浸在蓝色的雾霭中,一些恒星则以粉红色小点的形式出现在图像中.Chandra 的数据显示,X 射线来自炽热的恒星大气层的外层.在这幅图像里,低能,中能和高能的X射线被分别染成红色,绿色和蓝色.

Using Chandra, researchers detected over 1,700 individual sources of X-rays in the Eagle Nebula (only a fraction are seen in this small field of view). Optical and infrared identifications with stars were used to sort out chance interlopers in the foreground or background, and to determine that more than two-thirds of the sources are likely young stars that are members of the NGC 6611 cluster.

利用 Chandra , 研究人员发现了超过1700多个独特的 X 射线发射源(在这幅图像的小视野里只能看到其中的一部分).利用恒星的光学或者红外线特征来区分前景或者背景中的偶然闯入者,通过这个方法已经确定超过三分之二的成员可能是位于NGC 6611星团的年轻恒星.

Chandra’s unique ability to resolve and locate X-ray sources made it possible to identify hundreds of very young stars, and those still in the process of forming (known as “protostars”). Infrared observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory indicate that 219 of the X-ray sources in the Eagle Nebula are young stars surrounded by disks of dust and gas and 964 are young stars without these disks.

Chandra独特的识别和定位X射线的能力使得我们识别数百颗非常年轻的恒星成为可能,包括那些仍在形成过程中的恒星(即"原星").来自NASA的 Spitzer 太空望远镜和欧洲南方天文台的红外线观测资料显示,在这些位于鹰状星云的X射线源中,有219个年轻的恒星被由尘埃和气体组成的圆盘包围,有964个年轻的恒星没有这些圆盘.

Combined with the Chandra observations, the data show that X-ray activity in young stars with disks is, on average, a few times less intense that in young stars without disks. This behavior is likely due to the interaction of the disk with the magnetic field of the host star. Much of the matter in the disks around these protostars will eventually be blown away by radiation from their host stars, but, in certain cases, some of it may form into planets.

结合 Chandra 的观测资料,数据表明,有圆盘的年轻恒星的 X 射线活动更活跃,从平均水平来看,具有圆盘的恒星的 X 射线强度是没有圆盘的恒星的 X 射线强度的数倍.这种行为很可能应归结于圆盘与恒星磁场的相互作用.这些原星周围的圆盘中的大部分物质最终都会被来自它们的主恒星的辐射吹走,但是,在某些情况下,他们中的一些物质可能会形成行星.

In the image, some of the X-ray sources appear to be located in the Pillars.

在这幅图片中,一些 X 射线辐射源看起来出现在创造之柱上.

However, an analysis of the absorption of X-rays from these sources indicates that almost all of these sources belong to the larger Eagle Nebula rather than being immersed in the Pillars.

然而,对这些 X 射线源的吸收分析暗示,它们可能属于一个更大的鹰状星云而不是浸沒在创造之柱里.

Three X-ray sources appear to lie near the tip of the largest Pillar. Infrared observations show a protostar containing four or five times the mass of the Sun is located near one of these sources – the blue one near the tip of the Pillar. This source exhibits strong absorption of low-energy X-rays, consistent with a location inside the Pillar. Similar arguments show that one of these sources is associated with a disk-less star outside the Pillar, and one is a foreground object.

三个 X 射线源似乎位于最大的柱子的顶端附近.红外观测资料表明,一颗质量大约是太阳4到5倍的原星就位于这些辐射源的其中一个附近--就是位于创造之柱顶端的那个蓝色星体.这个源表现出了极强的低能 X 射线吸收能力,这与在创造之柱内的位置一致.类似的论据表明,其中一个源与创造之柱外的无盘恒星相关联,另一个则是前景对象.

A paper by Mario Guarcello, currently at the National Institute for Astronomy in Italy, and colleagues describing these results appeared in The Astrophysical Journal, and is available online.

当前工作在意大利国家天文研究所的Mario Guarcello和他的同事一起在天体物理学期刊上发表了一篇论文,描述了这些结论,这篇论文也可以在网上找到.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra’s science and flight operations.

NASA 位于美国亚拉巴马州亨茨维尔的马歇尔太空飞行中心为位于华盛顿的美国宇航局科学任务局管理着 Chandra 项目.位于美国马萨诸塞州剑桥的 Smithsonian 天体物理学天文台控制着 Chandra 的科学和飞行操作.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/INAF/M.Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI
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Last Updated: July 13, 2018
Editor: Lee Mohon


声明:
本文中的图片和英文原文均来自NASA,由导航狗对原文进行翻译,译文仅供参考。
原文链接:https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/x-ploring-the-eagle-nebula-and-pillars-of-creation.html
原文标题:’X’-ploring the Eagle Nebula and ‘Pillars of Creation’

Manifesto:
The picture in this article and the English original text are all from NASA, DaoHangGou translated the original text and translated for reference only.
Original link: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/x-ploring-the-eagle-nebula-and-pillars-of-creation.html
Original title: ‘X’-ploring the Eagle Nebula and ‘Pillars of Creation’