Evropská jižní observatoř

Kategorie: Mlhoviny, Zpět na celou fotogalerii.

Popis (v anglickém jazyce):

This computer-processed picture is an average of two
15-min exposures, obtained in the light of ionised
nitrogen during the morning of December 20, 1993,
with the Super Seeing Instrument (SuSI) at the 3.58 m
ESO New Technology Telescope.

It shows the complex structure of the faint nebulae
around SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The
inner ring was formed from interaction with matter
ejected during an earlier phase by the star that
later exploded as a supernova. Spectra and
theoretical models suggest that the faint outer
nebular loops trace the outer rim of a large bubble
which was also formed by outflowing matter. The
supernova itself, at the centre of the inner ring,
emits very little light in the narrow spectral band
used for this observation and is not visible on this
picture.

Because of the very large range of intensities in
these nebulosities, and in order to better show the
structure, the intensities of the low surface
brightness parts of the image have been greatly
enhanced, relative to the brighter parts.

Most of the light from the inner ring is concentrated
in a narrow, bright band which has been given
relatively little prominence in this modified
picture. However, the uneven structure, in particular
the greater intensity in the North-West (upper right
part), is clearly visible. This picture shows very
faint structures and therefore a greater overall
width of the ring than do earlier pictures.

The nominal resolution of this picture as determined
by the size of the stellar images in the field, is
0.20 arcsec. The gap in the upper right quadrant of
the outer ring is an artifact caused by subtracting a
bright star at this location. The pixel size is 0.032
arcsec.

Odkaz na další informace na www.eso.org (stránka v AJ)