NASA 오늘의 사진 (2022-05-08)

안녕하세요. 오늘은 NASA에서 어떤 우주의 모습을 비춰줄까요?
먼저 사진부터 감상하시죠!

 

이 사진의 제목은 Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: The Inner Rings 입니다. NASA에서 공식적으로 제공한 설명을 보시죠.

 

Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy have two? To begin, the bright band near NGC 1512's center is a nuclear ring, a ring that surrounds the galaxy center and glows brightly with recently formed stars. Most stars and accompanying gas and dust, however, orbit the galactic center in a ring much further out -- here seen near the image edge. This ring is called, counter-intuitively, the inner ring. If you look closely, you will see this the inner ring connects ends of a diffuse central bar that runs horizontally across the galaxy. These ring structures are thought to be caused by NGC 1512's own asymmetries in a drawn-out process called secular evolution. The gravity of these galaxy asymmetries, including the bar of stars, cause gas and dust to fall from the inner ring to the nuclear ring, enhancing this ring's rate of star formation. Some spiral galaxies also have a third ring -- an outer ring that circles the galaxy even further out.

 

오늘도 광활한 우주 앞에 인간이 얼마나 작은 존재인지 깨닫게 되네요.
저는 내일도 더 좋은 사진과 함께 돌아오겠습니다, 행복한 지구여행 되세요!