RCW 120 is an
emission nebula and
H II region in the southern Milky Way and located some 4,300 light-years from
Earth.
Its designation appears in the
RCW Catalogue
The RCW Catalogue (from Rodgers, Campbell & Whiteoak) is an astronomical catalogue of Hα-emission regions in the southern Milky Way, described in . It contains 182 objects, including many of the earlier Gum catalogue (84 items) objects.
The la ...
published in 1960, whose circular diameter size is 6 arcmin.
It also catalogued as
Sh 2-3 and
Gum 58.
Veta S. Avedisova considers RCW 120 is being ionised by the O8 V star CD -38 11636 and the B2 V star VDBH 84B, and places the nebula in the star formation region SFR 348.26+0.47 along with 3
Astrophysical maser CH87 347.386+0.266.
The
Herschel infra-red telescope's image shows an embryonic star that is likely to become one of the brightest stars in our Galaxy at some time within the next few hundred thousand years. The star now appears about ten times more massive than the Sun and may grow much larger by
accreting material from the surrounding gas and dust.
Gallery
File:Iotw2230a A Crimson Nursery.jpg,
External links
The Galactic HII Region RCW 120
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rcw 120
Emission nebulae
H II regions
Sharpless objects
Star-forming regions
Scorpius