NGC 188 ：《新總星表》中的古老星團
NGC 188: Old Cluster in the New General Catalog
來源：Neven Krcmarek｜發表日期：2026-05-13
《星團與星雲新總星表》其實並不算新。事實上，它出版於 1888 年——這是J. L. E. 德雷爾（Dreyer）為整合天文學家威廉·赫歇爾、卡羅琳·赫歇爾、約翰·赫歇爾等人以及其他研究者的成果，編纂成一部實用且完整的天文發現與測量星表所做出的努力。 德雷爾的工作取得了巨大成功，至今仍具有重要意義，因為這部著名星表繼續為明亮的星團、星系和星雲提供“NGC”編號。以被稱為NGC 188 的星團為例（即NGC 星表中的第 188 號條目）。它位於北半球仙王座，距離地球約 6 , 000 光年，屬於銀河系內的疏散星團。 NGC 188 的年齡約為 70 億年，對於一個疏散星團而言已屬高齡。在這幅色彩斑斕的深空影像中，其年老且已演化的紅巨星呈現出淡黃色調。 在現代深空天體目錄中，NGC 188 還被命名為Caldwell 1 。這個古老的星團位於銀河平面之上，從地球北天極方向可見，因此也被部分天文學家稱為“極星團”。
原文：The New General Catalog of star clusters and nebulae really isn't so new. In fact, it was published in 1888 - an effort by J. L. E. Dreyer to consolidate the work of astronomers William, Caroline, and John Herschel along with others into a useful single, complete catalog of astronomical discoveries and measurements. Dreyer's work was largely successful and is still important today, as this famous catalog continues to lend its "NGC" to bright clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Take for example the star cluster known as NGC 188 (item number 188 in the NGC compilation). It lies about 6,000 light-years distant in the northern constellation Cepheus and represents a galactic or open star cluster. With an age of about 7 billion years, NGC 188 is old for an open cluster. Its old, evolved red giant stars have yellowish hues in this colorful, deep sky view. NGC 188 also enjoys the designation Caldwell 1 in a modern compilation of deep sky objects. Located well above the plane of the Milky Way and seen in the direction of planet Earth's north celestial pole, the ancient stellar group is known to some as the Polarissima Cluster.
※ 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！
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