NGC 2060

Last updated
NGC 2060
Close-up Tarantula Nebula.jpg
An image of NGC 2060 taken by Hubble Space Telescope
Credit: NASA, ESA
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Right ascension 05h 37m 51.6s
Declination −69° 10′ 23″
Distance 160,000 ly (50,000 pc)
Apparent magnitude  (V)9.59
Physical characteristics
Associations
Constellation Dorado
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

NGC 2060 is a star cluster within the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, very close to the larger NGC 2070 cluster containing R136. It was discovered by John Herschel in 1836. It is a loose cluster approximately 10 million years old, within one of the Tarantula Nebula's superbubbles formed by the combined stellar winds of the cluster or by old supernovae. [1]

NGC 2060 is often used synonymously for the supernova remnant N157B [2] (30 Doradus B [3] ) which is a larger area of faint nebulosity and strong radio emission. The supernova occurred approximately 5000 years ago from our point of view. In 1998 a pulsar (named PSR J0537-6910) was discovered with the very fast rotation period of 16 milliseconds and the same approximate age as the supernova remnant. [4] VFTS 102 is a runaway O-type main-sequence star found with NGC 2060, which is proposed to be a companion of the pulsar ejected at the time of the supernova explosion. [5]

NGC 2060 has been identified as one of the few locations for OVz stars, stars with unusually strong HeII 468.6 nm absorption indicative of weak stellar winds and relatively low luminosity for the class. These stars are found in extremely young clusters and are thought to be a very early stage in the evolution of the most massive stars. [6] They are also found in the much more massive NGC 2070 cluster nearby in the Tarantula Nebula.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H II region</span> Large, low-density interstellar cloud of partially ionized gas

An H II region or HII region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light years, and density from a few to about a million particles per cubic centimetre. The Orion Nebula, now known to be an H II region, was observed in 1610 by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc by telescope, the first such object discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarantula Nebula</span> H II region in the constellation Dorado

The Tarantula Nebula is a large H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), forming its south-east corner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luminous blue variable</span> Type of star that is luminous, blue, and variable in brightness

Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive evolved stars that show unpredictable and sometimes dramatic variations in their spectra and brightness. They are also known as S Doradus variables after S Doradus, one of the brightest stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud. They are extraordinarily rare, with just 20 objects listed in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars as SDor, and a number of these are no longer considered LBVs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sher 25</span> Star in the constellation Carina

Sher 25 is a blue supergiant star in the constellation Carina, located approximately 25,000 light years from the Sun in the H II region NGC 3603 of the Milky Way. It is a spectral type B1Iab star with an apparent magnitude of 12.2. Its initial main sequence mass is calculated at 60 times the mass of the Sun, but a star of this type will have already lost a substantial fraction of that mass. It is unclear whether Sher 25 has been through a red supergiant phase or has just evolved from the main sequence, so the current mass is very uncertain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136</span> Super star cluster in the constellation Dorado, in the Large Magellanic Cloud

R136 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 but is now known to include 72 class O and Wolf–Rayet stars within 5 parsecs 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136b</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136b is a Wolf–Rayet star in the R136 cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is one of the most massive and most luminous stars known. It is found in the dense R136 open cluster at the centre of NGC 2070 in the Tarantula Nebula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a1</span> Wolf–Rayet star with one of the highest mass and luminosity of any known star

R136a1 is one of the most massive and luminous stars known, at 196 M☉ and nearly 4.7 million L☉, and is also one of the hottest, at around 46,000 K. It is a Wolf–Rayet star at the center of R136, the central concentration of stars of the large NGC 2070 open cluster in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The cluster can be seen in the far southern celestial hemisphere with binoculars or a small telescope, at magnitude 7.25. R136a1 itself is 100 times fainter than the cluster and can only be resolved using speckle interferometry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melnick 42</span> Massive blue supergiant star in the constellation Dorado

Melnick 42 is a massive blue supergiant star in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud located in the constellation Dorado. Although it is only 21 times the size of the sun, its high temperature of 47,300 K makes it one of the most luminous stars of the Tarantula Nebula at 3,600,000 L☉. It is less than two parsecs from the centre of the R136 cluster, although that is well outside the central core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 682</span> Wolf Rayet star in the constellation Dorado

VFTS 682 is a Wolf–Rayet star in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is located over 29 parsecs (95 ly) north-east of the massive cluster R136 in the Tarantula Nebula. It is 138 times the mass of the sun and 3.2 million times more luminous which makes it one of the most massive and most luminous stars known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 102</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

VFTS 102 is a star located in the Tarantula nebula, a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a2</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136a2 is a Wolf-Rayet star residing near the center of the R136, the central concentration of stars of the large NGC 2070 open cluster in the Tarantula Nebula, a massive H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud which is a nearby satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It has one of the highest confirmed masses and luminosities of any known star, at about 151 M☉ and 3.5 million L☉ respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136c</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136c is a star located in R136, a tight knot of stars at the centre of NGC 2070, an open cluster weighing 450,000 solar masses and containing 10,000 stars. At 142 M☉ and 3.8 million L☉, it is the one of the most massive stars known and one of the most luminous, along with being one of the hottest, at over 40,000 K. It was first resolved and named by Feitzinger in 1980, along with R136a and R136b.

HD 38282 is a massive spectroscopic binary star in the Tarantula Nebula, consisting of two hydrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R136a3</span> Star in the constellation Dorado

R136a3 is a Wolf–Rayet star in R136, a massive star cluster located in Dorado. It is located near R136a1, the most massive and luminous star known. R136a3 is itself one of the most massive and most luminous stars known at about 179 times more massive and 5 million times more luminous than the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BI 253</span> O-type main sequence star in the constellation Dorado

BI 253 is an O2V star in the Large Magellanic Cloud and is a primary standard of the O2 type. It is one of the hottest main-sequence stars known and one of the most-massive and most-luminous stars known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melnick 34</span> Binary star in the Large Magellanic cloud

Melnick 34, also called BAT99-116, is a binary Wolf–Rayet star near R136 in the 30 Doradus complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Both components are amongst the most massive and most luminous stars known, and the system is the most massive known binary system.

BAT99-98 is a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is located near the R136 cluster in the 30 Doradus nebula. At 226 M☉ and 5,000,000 L☉ it is one of the most massive and luminous stars known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 352</span> Contact binary star system in the constellation Dorado

VFTS 352 is a contact binary star system 160,000 light-years (49,000 pc) away in the Tarantula Nebula, which is part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is the most massive and earliest spectral type overcontact system known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VFTS 243</span>

VFTS 243 is an O7V type main sequence star that orbits a stellar mass black hole. The black hole is around nine times the mass of the Sun, with the blue star being 25 times the mass of the Sun making the star 200,000 times larger than the black hole. VFTS 243 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud inside NGC 2070 around 160,000 light years from Earth. The binary has an orbital period of 10.4 days.

References

  1. ↑ Sabbi, E.; Anderson, J.; Lennon, D. J.; van der Marel, R. P.; Aloisi, A.; Boyer, M. L.; Cignoni, M.; de Marchi, G.; de Mink, S. E.; Evans, C. J.; Gallagher III, J. S.; Gordon, K.; Gouliermis, D. A.; Grebel, E. K.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Larsen, S. S.; Panagia, N.; Ryon, J. E.; Smith, L. J.; Tosi, M.; Zaritsky, D. (2013). "Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project: Unraveling Tarantula's Web. I. Observational overview and first results". The Astronomical Journal. 146 (3): 53. arXiv: 1304.6747 . Bibcode:2013AJ....146...53S. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/146/3/53. S2CID   118441242.
  2. ↑ Mathewson, D. S.; Clarke, J. N. (1973). "Supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud". The Astrophysical Journal. 180: 725. Bibcode:1973ApJ...180..725M. doi: 10.1086/152002 .
  3. ↑ Le Marne, A. E. (1968). "High resolution observations of the 30 Doradus Nebula at 408 MHz". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 139 (4): 461–469. Bibcode:1968MNRAS.139..461L. doi: 10.1093/mnras/139.4.461 .
  4. ↑ Mignani, R. P.; Pulone, L.; Iannicola, G.; Pavlov, G. G.; Townsley, L.; Kargaltsev, O. Y. (2005). "Search for the elusive optical counterpart of PSR J0537?6910 with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 431 (2): 659–665. arXiv: astro-ph/0411047 . Bibcode:2005A&A...431..659M. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041781. S2CID   12692116.
  5. ↑ Dufton, P. L.; Dunstall, P. R.; Evans, C. J.; Brott, I.; Cantiello, M.; De Koter, A.; De Mink, S. E.; Fraser, M.; Hénault-Brunet, V.; Howarth, I. D.; Langer, N.; Lennon, D. J.; Markova, N.; Sana, H.; Taylor, W. D. (2011). "The Vlt-Flames Tarantula Survey: The Fastest Rotating O-Type Star and Shortest Period Lmc Pulsar—Remnants of a Supernova Disrupted Binary?". The Astrophysical Journal. 743 (1): L22. arXiv: 1111.0157 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...743L..22D. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/743/1/L22. S2CID   118448435.
  6. ↑ Sabín-Sanjulián, C.; Simón-Díaz, S.; Herrero, A.; Walborn, N. R.; Puls, J.; Maíz Apellániz, J.; Evans, C. J.; Brott, I.; de Koter, A.; Garcia, M.; Markova, N.; Najarro, F.; Ramírez-Agudelo, O. H.; Sana, H.; Taylor, W. D.; Vink, J. S. (2013). "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey. XIII: On the nature of O Vz stars in 30 Doradus". Astronomy. 564: A39. arXiv: 1312.3278 . Bibcode:2014A&A...564A..39S. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322798. S2CID   55965378.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.