愛斯基摩星雲

The Eskimo Nebula from Hubble

影像提供: Andrew Fruchter (STScI) et al., WFPC2, HST, NASA

Explanation:
In 1787, astronomer William Herschel discovered the Eskimo Nebula.
From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka
hood. In 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the Eskimo Nebula. From
space, the nebula displays gas clouds so complex they are not fully
understood. The Eskimo Nebula is clearly a planetary nebula, and the gas
seen above composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star only 10,000 years
ago. The inner filaments visible above are being ejected by strong wind of
particles from the central star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year
long orange filaments.

說明:
1787年，天文學家威廉．赫歇爾 (William Herschel)發現了愛斯基摩星雲 (Eskimo Nebula)。編號為NGC
2392的愛斯基摩星雲，從從地面看出去，很像是一顆載著愛斯基摩毛皮兜帽的人頭。
在2000年時，哈伯太空望遠鏡為它拍攝了一張照片，發現這個星雲具有非常複雜的雲氣結構，直至現在，這些結構的成因仍然不完全清楚。不論如何，愛斯基摩
星雲是個如假包換的行星狀星雲，上面影像中的雲氣是一顆很像太陽的恆星，在一萬年前所拋出來的外層氣殼。
影像中清楚可見的星雲內層絲狀結構，是強烈恆星風所拋出的的中心星物質，而外層碟狀區，有許多長度有一光年長的奇特橘色指狀物。

資料來源：Scientific American
　　　　　Department of Physics, NCKU