R136

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R136
Grand star-forming region R136 in NGC 2070 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope).jpg
In ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3
Credit: NASA, ESA
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Right ascension 05h 38m 42.396s [1]
Declination −69° 06′ 03.36″ [1]
Distance 157 kly (48.5 kpc)
Apparent magnitude  (V)9.50
Physical characteristics
Mass90,000 [2]   M☉
Estimated age1.5+0.3
−0.7 million years [2]
Other designationsUCAC2 1803442, SAO 249329, HD 38268, TYC 9163-1014-1, CD-69 324, GC 7114 [3]
Associations
Constellation Dorado
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

R136 (formerly known as RMC 136 from the Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds catalogue [4] ) 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. [5] The extreme number and concentration of young massive stars in this part of the LMC qualifies it as a starburst region. [6]

Contents

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. [7] R136 has around 200 times the stellar density of a typical OB association such as Cygnus OB2. [8] The central R136 concentration of the cluster is about 2 parsecs across, although the whole NGC 2070 cluster is much larger. [8]

R136 is thought to be less than 2 million years old. [8] [9] None of the member stars are significantly evolved, and none are thought to have exploded as supernova. Because of this, the cluster contains no red supergiants, blue hypergiants, or luminous blue variables. The brightest stars are WNh, O supergiants, and OIf/WN slash stars, all extremely massive fully convective stars. A small number of B-type main sequence stars have been detected in the outskirts of the cluster, but less massive and less luminous stars cannot be resolved from the dense cluster core at the large distance of the LMC. [5]

R136a

R136a is the bright knot at the centre of R136. It consists of eight extremely massive stars, three of them Wolf-Rayet stars and the rest early O-class stars. [2]

Components

The cluster contains many of the most massive and luminous stars known, including R136a1. Within the central 5 parsecs there are 32 of the hottest type O stars (O2.0–3.5), 40 other O stars, and 12 Wolf-Rayet stars, mostly of the extremely luminous WNh type. Within 150 parsecs there are a further 325 O stars and 19 Wolf-Rayet stars. [5] Several runaway stars have been associated with R136, including VFTS 682. [10] R136 was first resolved into three components R136a, R136b, and R136c. R136a was resolved using speckle interferometry and eventually space-based observations into as many as 24 components, [11] dominated by R136a1, R136a2, and R136a3, all three being extremely massive WNh stars several million times more luminous than the sun. [12]

Basic data for the original RMC 136 a, b, and c stars
Name Right ascension [5] Declination [5] V [2] (F555W) Spectral type [12] MV [13] (F555W)Temperature (K) [12] [14] Luminosity (L☉) [12] [14] Mass (M☉) [12] [14]
R136a1 05h 38m 42.39s−69° 06′ 02.91″12.28WN5h−8.1846,0004,677,000196
R136a2 05h 38m 42.40s−69° 06′ 02.88″12.80WN5h−7.8050,0003,548,000151
R136a3 05h 38m 42.33s−69° 06′ 03.27″12.97WN5h−7.5250,0003,631,000155
R136a405h 38m 42.34s−69° 06′ 02.60″13.96O3 V((f*))(n)−6.6850,0001,905,000108
R136a505h 38m 42.43s−69° 06′ 02.73″13.71O2I(n)f*−6.8648,0002,089,000116
R136a605h 38m 42.29s−69° 06′ 03.37″13.35O2I(n)f*p−6.4652,0001,738,000105
R136a705h 38m 42.41s−69° 06′ 02.57″13.97O3III(f*)−6.5954,0002,291,000127
R136a805h 38m 42.37s−69° 06′ 01.9″?14.42O2–3V [2] −6.05 [2] 49,5001,479,00096
R136b 05h 38m 42.74s−69° 06′ 03.78″13.24O4If−7.7035,5002,239,00092
R136c 05h 38m 42.90s−69° 06′ 04.83″12.86WN5h [15] −7.9 [5] 42,170 [15] 3,802,000 [15] 142 [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Arches Cluster is the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way, about 100 light-years from its center in the constellation Sagittarius, 25,000 light-years from Earth. Its discovery was reported by Nagata et al. in 1995, and independently by Cotera et al. in 1996. Due to extremely heavy optical extinction by dust in this region, the cluster is obscured in the visual bands, and is observed in the X-ray, infrared and radio bands. It contains approximately 135 young, very hot stars that are many times larger and more massive than the Sun, plus many thousands of less massive stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2060</span> Star cluster in the constellation Dorado

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.

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

R136b is a blue supergiant 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">HD 97950</span> Multiple star system in the constellation Carina

HD 97950, is the central core of a super star cluster within the NGC 3603 H II region. It was catalogued as a single star, but has now been resolved into one of the densest clusterings of stars in the galaxy.

<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 nearly 200 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">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 Wolf-Rayet 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 currently 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">LH 41-1042</span> Wolf Rayet star in the constellation Dorado

LH 41-1042 is a Wolf–Rayet star located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It is an extremely rare member of the WO oxygen sequence, the second to be discovered in the LMC and one of only three found so far in that galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R145</span> Binary star in the constellation Dorado

R145 is a spectroscopic binary star in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud located in the constellation Dorado. Both components are amongst the most luminous known.

References

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  9. ↑ Crowther, P. A.; Schnurr, O.; Hirschi, R.; Yusof, N.; Parker, R. J.; Goodwin, S. P.; Kassim, H. A. (2010). "The R136 star cluster hosts several stars whose individual masses greatly exceed the accepted 150 M⊙ stellar mass limit". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 408 (2): 731. arXiv: 1007.3284 . Bibcode:2010MNRAS.408..731C. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17167.x. S2CID   53001712.
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