The Arches Cluster: Star Factory Near Galactic Center Bathed
In High-Energy X-Rays
This
composite image shows an envelope of 60-million-degree gas around a
young cluster of stars, known as the Arches cluster. The
Chandra data, shown as the diffuse blue emission in the inset box,
overlays a Hubble Space Telescope infrared image of the same region,
in which some of the individual stars in the cluster can be seen as
point-like sources. Both the X-ray and infrared observations are
shown in context of the spectacular filamentary structures that
appear in radio wavelengths displayed in red. Radio observations
were obtained using the Very Large Array (VLA) of radio
telescopes.
The Arches cluster contains about 150 hot, young
stars concentrated within a radius of about one light year, making
it the most compact cluster of stars in our Galaxy. Many of these
stars are 20 times as massive as the Sun and live short, furious
lives that last only a few million years. During this period, gas
evaporates from these stars in the form of intense stellar winds.
The envelope of hot gas observed by Chandra is thought to be due to
collisions of the winds from numerous stars.
Studies of the
Arches cluster, located about 25,000 light years from Earth, can be
used to learn more about the environments of "starburst" galaxies
millions of light years away where this phenomenon may be occurring
on a much larger scale.
Fast Facts for the Arches
Cluster: |
Credit |
X-ray:
NASA/CXC/Northwestern/F.Zadeh et al., IR:
NASA/HST/NICMOS, Radio: NRAO/VLA/C.Lang |
Scale |
Inset box of X-ray and IR
(blue): 0.6 arcminutes on each side. Background red
radio: 8 arcmin across. by 9.6 arcmin top to bottom.
|
Category |
Normal
Stars & Star Clusters |
Coordinates
(J2000) |
RA 17h 46m 22s | Dec -28º 51'
36.4" |
Constellation |
Sagittarius
|
Observation
Date |
July 7, 2000 |
Observation
Time |
14 hours |
Instrument |
ACIS
|
Distance
Estimate |
About 25,000 light years
|
Release
Date |
June 06, 2001
| | |