Westerlund 2

Unas 3000 estrellas jóvenes, algunas de las más calientes y brillantes de la Vía Láctea, que excavan una cavidad en la nube de la que se formaron. La imagen del 25.º aniversario del Hubble.

La imagen cuelga a esa distancia de cara a la Tierra, tan grande como se ve en el cielo; la profundidad del objeto no se puede ver, así que es plana.

Tomada por

Hubble Space Telescope

Ancho de la imagen

unos 43 ly

Desde el Sol

20.000 años luz

AR / Dec

156.03° / -57.76°

Créditos

NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team The original observations of Westerlund 2 were obtained by the science team: Antonella Nota (ESA/STScI), Elena Sabbi (STScI), Eva Grebel and Peter Zeidler (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg), Monica Tosi (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna), Alceste Bonanos (National Observatory of Athens, Astronomical Institute), Carol Christian (STScI/AURA) and Selma de Mink (University of Amsterdam). Follow-up observations were made by the Hubble Heritage team: Zoltan Levay (STScI), Max Mutchler, Jennifer Mack, Lisa Frattare, Shelly Meyett, Mario Livio, Carol Christian (STScI/AURA), and Keith Noll (NASA/GSFC).

Westerlund 2 is an obscured compact young 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 H II region RCW 49, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. It is half a degree from the naked eye Cepheid variable V399 Carinae.

De Wikipedia, CC BY-SA · Leer el artículo