蟹狀星雲 ) m* o" z9 j* s1 A# b* nComposite Crab 2 t! n- A5 p4 d- k% ^7 r, ~$ K* _9 }: ~% i1 h+ ^. p" D0 Y * r8 E4 k, c: f7 | 6 z5 T: B8 R) Z% _' x" A: ~' \- T% rCredit: NASA - X-ray: CXC, J.Hester (ASU) et al.; 1 l1 S: J4 w x; z
Optical: ESA, J.Hester and A.Loll (ASU); Infrared: JPL-Caltech, R.Gehrz (U. Minn) , I/ b: K3 L" f7 D: r- H0 e, q+ r& N
Explanation: 4 x* P) V) w& d; N+ D" x% B The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, expanding debris from the death explosion of a massive star. This intriguing false-color image combines data from space-based observatories, Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer, to explore the debris cloud in x-rays (blue-purple), optical (green), and infrared (red) light. One of the most exotic objects known to modern astronomers, the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is the bright spot near picture center. Like a cosmic dynamo, this collapsed remnant of the stellar core powers the Crab's emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. Spanning about 12 light-years, the Crab Nebula is 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. ' @4 e; {% }) h w0 H
' Q1 F2 P( }1 ?. g6 L7 G說明:5 A7 L) u. @( i. H. |' I9 M1 f! D4 K2 g4 a
蟹狀星雲的編錄是M1，也就是梅西葉著名的「非彗星型錄」的第一個天體。現在我們知道蟹狀星雲是一個超新星遺骸--大質量恆星死亡爆炸所產生的擴張碎片雲。這幅有趣的假色影像，組合了來自錢卓拉、哈伯和史匹哲等太空天文望遠鏡的數據，在X射線 (藍-紫)、可見光 (綠)和紅外光 (紅)波段探索這團宇宙碎片雲。星雲中心附近的亮斑是蟹狀星雲波霎，為一顆每轉自轉30次的中子星，是現代天文學家公認最奇特的天體之一。就像一個宇宙級的發電機，這顆恆星核崩塌所產生的遺骸，是蟹狀星雲發出各種電磁波段輻射的能量源。蟹狀星雲位在金牛座內，離我們約有6,500光年遠，大小約有12光年。- W3 m$ M/ [& {1 q# k R9 k
5 P5 o. m6 Q* i$ U: t資料來源: Scientific American6 W! J+ d5 R2 ^5 \& k
Department of Physics, NCKU
