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Westerlund 2
Westerlund 2 is an obscured compact young star cluster (perhaps even a super star cluster) in the Milky Way, with an estimated age of about one or two million years. It contains some of the hottest, brightest, and most massive stars known. The cluster resides inside a stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. It is half a degree from the naked eye Classical Cepheid variable, Cepheid variable V399 Carinae. Cluster members The cluster contains at least a dozen O-type main sequence star, early O stars, of which at least three are eclipsing binaries. All are hotter than 38,000 K and more luminous than . There are around 20 further O class stars in the cluster, all main sequence objects implying a very young age for the cluster. Several Wolf–Rayet stars are found in the vicinity of Westerlund 2, although not in the central core. WR 20a, a binary consisting of two WR stars, and the single stars WR 20aa, WR 20b, and WR 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA Unveils Celestial Fireworks As Official Hubble 25th Anniversary Image
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program, aeronautics research, and outer space, space research. NASA was National Aeronautics and Space Act, established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo program, Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew Program, Commercial Crew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WR 20a
WR 20a is an eclipsing binary star belonging to or recently (0.5 millions years before present) ejected from the young, massive cluster Westerlund 2. It was discovered in 2004 to be one of the most massive binary systems known, for which the masses of the components have been accurately measured. Each star in the system has about eighty times the mass of the Sun. It is not clear why this system is located away from the center of the cluster. It is possible that the system was formed in the core, but that it was ejected by dynamical interactions. Every 3.6 days the two stars in this system revolve around each other. Although the stars are in a very tight orbit, both stars in the system are detached. The two stars eclipse each other on each orbit, producing a drop in brightness of about 0.4 magnitudes. The brightness is also continuously variable outside the eclipses due to the distorted shapes of the two stars. The primary and secondary minima are almost the same de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomy Picture Of The Day
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer." The photograph does not necessarily correspond to a celestial event on the exact day that it is displayed, and images are sometimes repeated. However, the pictures and descriptions often relate to current events in astronomy and space exploration. The text has several hyperlinks to more pictures and websites for more information. The images are either visible spectrum photographs, images taken at non-visible wavelengths and displayed in false color, video footage, animations, artist's conceptions, or micrographs that relate to space or cosmology. Past images are stored in the APOD Archive, with the first image appearing on June 16, 1995. This initiative has received support from NASA, the National Science ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
R136
R136 (formerly known as RMC 136 from the Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds catalogue) is the central concentration of stars in the NGC 2070 star cluster, which lies at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. When originally named it was an unresolved stellar object (catalogued as HD 38268 and Wolf-Rayet star Brey 82) but is now known to include 72 class O and Wolf–Rayet stars within 5 parsecs (20 arc seconds) of the centre of the cluster. The extreme number and concentration of young massive stars in this part of the LMC qualifies it as a starburst region. Properties R136 produces most of the energy that makes the Tarantula Nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it may become a globular cluster in the future. R136 has around 200 times the stellar density of a typical OB association such as Cygnus OB2. The central R136 concentration of the cluster is about 2 parsecs across, although the whole N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westerlund 1
Westerlund 1 (abbreviated Wd1, sometimes called Ara Cluster) is a compact young super star cluster about 3.8 kpc (12,000 ly) away from Earth. It is thought to be the most massive young star cluster in the Milky Way, and was discovered by Bengt Westerlund in 1961 but remained largely unstudied for many years due to high interstellar absorption in its direction. In the future, it will probably evolve into a globular cluster. The cluster contains a large number of rare, evolved, high-mass stars, including: 6 yellow hypergiants, 4 red supergiants including Westerlund 1-26, one of the largest known stars, 24 Wolf-Rayet stars, a luminous blue variable, many OB supergiants, and an unusual supergiant sgB star which has been proposed to be the remnant of a recent stellar merger. In addition, X-ray observations have revealed the presence of the anomalous X-ray pulsar CXO J164710.20-455217, a slow rotating neutron star that must have formed from a high-mass progenitor star. Weste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengt Westerlund
Bengt Westerlund (January 17, 1921 - June 4, 2008) was a Swedish astronomer who specialised in observational astronomy. He received his PhD from Uppsala University in 1954. In 1957 he was appointed astronomer at the Uppsala Southern Station at Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia, where he made extensive studies of the southern Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. In 1967 he took a position as astronomer at Steward Observatory in Arizona and in 1969 was appointed Director of ESO in Chile, a position he held until 1975, when he returned to Sweden to become Professor of Astronomy at Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, retiring in 1987. His work on the structure of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds was held in high regard. He contributed significantly in studies of star clusters, stellar populations, carbon stars, planetary nebulae, Wolf-Rayet stars, stellar classification and supernova remnants. He was regarded as an expert on the Magellanic Clouds and wrote a book on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westerlund 2 Young
Westerlund may refer to: * Westerlund 1, a star cluster * Westerlund 2, a star cluster * 2902 Westerlund, a Main-belt Asteroid People with the surname * Anna Westerlund (born 1989), Finnish footballer * Bengt Westerlund (1921–2008), Swedish professor of astronomy * Björn Westerlund (1912–2009), a Finnish businessman * Carl Agardh Westerlund (1831–1908), Swedish malacologist * Carl Julius Alvin Westerlund (1885–1952), Norwegian politician for the Labour Party * Edvard Westerlund (born 1901), Finnish wrestler * Ernst Westerlund (1893–1961), Finnish sailor * Erkka Westerlund (born 1957), previous head coach of the Finnish national men's ice hockey team * Helena Larsdotter Westerlund (1799-1865), Swedish educator * Kalle Westerlund (1897–1972), Finnish wrestler * Karl Valdemar Westerlund Karl Valdemar Westerlund (24 February 1907 – 23 November 1997) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WR21a
WR 21a is an eclipsing binary star in the constellation Carina. It includes one of the most massive known stars and is one of the most massive binaries. WR 21a lies near the Westerlund 2 open cluster and likely to be an ejected member. The distance of WR 21a was not definitively known until Gaia mission ''Gaia'' is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 2013 and expected to operate until 2025. The spacecraft is designed for astrometry: measuring the positions, distances and motions of stars with unprecedented preci .... There have been estimates from 2.85 kpc to around 8 kpc, with consequent uncertainties in the system luminosity. The larger distance was preferred because of consistency with the derived orbital parameters. Every 31 days and 16 hours the two stars in this system revolve around each other. The inclination of the orbit means that only very shallow eclipses are observed and the brightness dips by only about 0.05 magnitu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stellar Wind
A stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. It is distinguished from the bipolar outflows characteristic of young stars by being less collimated, although stellar winds are not generally spherically symmetric. Different types of stars have different types of stellar winds. Post-main-sequence stars nearing the ends of their lives often eject large quantities of mass in massive ( \scriptstyle \dot > 10^ solar masses per year), slow (v = 10 km/s) winds. These include red giants and supergiants, and asymptotic giant branch stars. These winds are understood to be driven by radiation pressure on dust condensing in the upper atmosphere of the stars. Young T Tauri stars often have very powerful stellar winds. Massive stars of types O and B have stellar winds with lower mass loss rates (\scriptstyle \dot 1–2000 km/s). Such winds are driven by radiation pressure on the resonance absorption lines of heavy elements such as carbon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WR 20c
WR may refer to: Arts and media * '' W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism'', a Serbian film, * Wikipedia Review, an Internet forum for the discussion of Wikimedia projects, particularly the English Wikipedia. *Willie Revillame, a Philippine TV host * Wiltshire Radio, original name of Heart Wiltshire, an English radio station Businesses and organizations * WR, IATA airline designator for WestJet Encore * Welter Racing, a French sports car maker * Western Railway zone, India Places * WR postcode area, England * WR Draw, a bridge over the Passaic River, in New Jersey, US Science and technology * Band 3, a protein (HGNC code WR) * Wasserman reaction is an antibody test for syphilis, based on complement-fixation * Wolf-Rayet galaxy, a galaxy which contains large numbers of Wolf-Rayet stars * Wreath product, a concept from group theory Sport * Wide receiver, a position in American football * World record, the best result ever in for example a sport using measurement * World Rugby, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WR 20b
WR may refer to: Arts and media * '' W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism'', a Serbian film, * Wikipedia Review, an Internet forum for the discussion of Wikimedia projects, particularly the English Wikipedia. *Willie Revillame, a Philippine TV host * Wiltshire Radio, original name of Heart Wiltshire, an English radio station Businesses and organizations * WR, IATA airline designator for WestJet Encore * Welter Racing, a French sports car maker * Western Railway zone, India Places * WR postcode area, England * WR Draw, a bridge over the Passaic River, in New Jersey, US Science and technology * Band 3, a protein (HGNC code WR) * Wasserman reaction is an antibody test for syphilis, based on complement-fixation * Wolf-Rayet galaxy, a galaxy which contains large numbers of Wolf-Rayet stars * Wreath product, a concept from group theory Sport * Wide receiver, a position in American football * World record, the best result ever in for example a sport using measurement * World Rugby, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WR 20aa
WR may refer to: Arts and media * '' W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism'', a Serbian film, * Wikipedia Review, an Internet forum for the discussion of Wikimedia projects, particularly the English Wikipedia. *Willie Revillame, a Philippine TV host * Wiltshire Radio, original name of Heart Wiltshire, an English radio station Businesses and organizations * WR, IATA airline designator for WestJet Encore * Welter Racing, a French sports car maker * Western Railway zone, India Places * WR postcode area, England * WR Draw, a bridge over the Passaic River, in New Jersey, US Science and technology * Band 3, a protein (HGNC code WR) * Wasserman reaction is an antibody test for syphilis, based on complement-fixation * Wolf-Rayet galaxy, a galaxy which contains large numbers of Wolf-Rayet stars * Wreath product, a concept from group theory Sport * Wide receiver, a position in American football * World record, the best result ever in for example a sport using measurement * World Rugby, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
