貓眼光環
Halo of the Cat's Eye
來源：Taavi Niittee
(Tõrva Astronomy Club)｜發表日期：2025-04-16
是什麼在貓眼星雲周圍形成了不尋常的光環？沒有人能夠確定。可以肯定的是，貓眼星雲（NGC 6543 ）是天空中最著名的行星狀星雲之一。 雖然在明亮的中心區域可以看到令人魂牽夢繞的對稱性，但這張照片拍攝的是它結構複雜的外暈，寬度超過三光年。 行星狀星雲一直被認為是類太陽恆星生命的最後階段。然而直到最近，人們才發現一些行星擁有廣闊的星暈，這些星暈很可能是由恆星演化早期令人費解的階段中被甩掉的物質形成的。行星狀星雲階段被認為會持續大約 1 萬年，而據天文學家估計，貓眼星雲光環外部絲狀部分的年齡為 5 萬到 9 萬年。
原文：What created the unusual halo around the Cat's Eye Nebula? No one is sure. What is sure is that the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae on the sky. Although haunting symmetries are seen in the bright central region, this image was taken to feature its intricately structured outer halo, which spans over three light-years across. Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a Sun-like star. Only recently however, have some planetaries been found to have expansive halos, likely formed from material shrugged off during earlier puzzling episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of the Cat's Eye Nebula's halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years.
※ 本文由萌芽機器人自動轉貼自每日一天文圖（Astronomy Picture of the Day，APOD），原文為英文，正體中文是透過 DeepL 翻譯及 OpenCC 進行自動處理，內容僅供參考，若有任何錯誤之處還請見諒！
關於每日一天文圖：每日一天文圖網站是美國國家航空暨太空總署與密西根理工大學提供的服務，網站每天提供一張影像或圖片，並由天文學家撰寫扼要說明其特別之處。