Super star cluster

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A super star cluster (SSC) is a very massive young open cluster that is thought to be the precursor of a globular cluster. [1] These clusters called "super" because they are relatively more luminous and contain more mass than other young star clusters. [2] The SSC, however, does not have to physically be larger than other clusters of lower mass and luminosity. [3] They typically contain a very large number of young, massive stars that ionize a surrounding HII region or a so-called "Ultra dense HII region (UDHII)" in the Milky Way Galaxy [4] or in other galaxies (however, SSCs do not always have to be inside an HII region). An SSC's HII region is in turn surrounded by a cocoon of dust. In many cases, the stars and the HII regions will be invisible to observations in certain wavelengths of light, such as the visible spectrum, due to high levels of extinction. As a result, the youngest SSCs are best observed and photographed in radio and infrared. [5] SSCs, such as Westerlund 1 (Wd1), have been found in the Milky Way Galaxy. [6] However, most have been observed in farther regions of the universe. In the galaxy M82 alone, 197 young SSCs have been observed and identified using the Hubble Space Telescope. [7]

Contents

Generally, SSCs have been seen to form in the interactions between galaxies and in regions of high amounts of star formation with high enough pressures to satisfy the properties needed for the formation of a star cluster. [2] These regions can include newer galaxies with much new star formation, dwarf starburst galaxies, [8] arms of a spiral galaxy that have a high star formation rate, and in the merging of galaxies. In an Astronomical Journal published in 1996, using pictures taken in the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum by the Hubble Space Telescope of star-forming rings in five different barred galaxies, numerous star clusters were found in clumps within the rings which had high rates of star formation. These clusters were found to have masses of about 103 M☉ to 105 M☉, ages of about 100 Myr, and radii of about 5 pc, and are thought to evolve into globular clusters later in their lifetimes. [9] These properties match those found in SSCs.

Characteristics and properties

The typical characteristics and properties of SSCs:

Hubble Space Telescope contributions

Given the relatively small size of SSCs compared to their host galaxies, astronomers have had trouble finding them in the past due to the limited resolution of the ground-based and space telescopes at the time. With the introduction of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the 1990s, finding SSCs (as well as other astronomical objects) became much easier thanks to the higher resolution of the HST (angular resolution of ~1/10 arcsecond [10] ). This has not only allowed astronomers to see SSCs, but also allowed for them to measure their properties as well as the properties of the individual stars within the SSC. Recently, a massive star, Westerlund 1-26, was discovered in the SSC Westerlund 1 in the Milky Way. The radius of this star is thought to be larger than the radius of Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. [11] Essentially, the HST searches the night sky, specifically nearby galaxies, for star clusters and "dense stellar objects" to see if any have the properties similar to that of a SSC or an object that would, in its lifetime, evolve into a globular cluster. [3]

List of SSCs

NameContained
in Galaxy		CommentsRefs / NotesPictures
Westerlund 1 (Wd1) Milky Way Galaxy First SSC discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy. This SSC was discovered by Bengt Westerlund in 1961. [12]
Westerlund 1 Westerlund 1.jpg
Westerlund 1
NGC 3603 Milky Way Galaxy Candidate for SSC [13]
NGC 3603 Stellar nursery NGC 3603.jpg
NGC 3603
NGC 2070 Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)Candidate for SSC
NGC 2070 The Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus or NGC 2070).jpg
NGC 2070
R136 Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)The prototype SSC, inside NGC 2070 [14]
R136 (Located in the Tarantula Nebula) Grand star-forming region R136 in NGC 2070 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope).jpg
R136 (Located in the Tarantula Nebula)
H72.97-69.39 Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)Also known as HSO BMHERICC J072.9711-69.3911, it was discovered in 2017 in the star-forming region LMC N79. It overlaps with NGC 1722. Further studied with ALMA and JWST. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]
NGC 1722 containing H72.97-69.39 NGC 1722 NIRCam.jpg
NGC 1722 containing H72.97-69.39
NGC 346 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)May be a SSC [20]
NGC 346 Ngc346.jpg
NGC 346
NGC 1569 A1 and A2 (NGC 1569 A) NGC 1569 Clusters A1 and A2 formed SSC A [21]
NGC 1569 NGC 1569.jpg
NGC 1569
NGC 1569 B NGC 1569 It contains older population of red giants and red supergiants [22]
NGC 1569 Starburst in a Dwarf Irregular Galaxy.jpg
NGC 1569
NGC 5253's central SSC NGC 5253 It is very dusty, and is the site of ongoing star formation. Particularly rich in O-type stars, containing at least 7,000.
NGC 5253 A Peculiar Compact Blue Dwarf Galaxy.jpg
NGC 5253

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andromeda Galaxy</span> Barred spiral galaxy in the Local Group

The Andromeda Galaxy is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It was originally named the Andromeda Nebula and is cataloged as Messier 31, M31, and NGC 224. Andromeda has a D25 isophotal diameter of about 46.56 kiloparsecs (152,000 light-years) and is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda, which itself is named after the princess who was the wife of Perseus in Greek mythology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triangulum Galaxy</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Triangulum

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messier 94</span> Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sculptor Galaxy</span> Intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3603</span> Open cluster in the constellation Carina

NGC 3603 is a nebula situated in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way around 20,000 light-years away from the Solar System. It is a massive H II region containing a very compact open cluster HD 97950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1569</span> Galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis

NGC 1569 is a dwarf irregular galaxy in Camelopardalis. The galaxy is relatively nearby and consequently, the Hubble Space Telescope can easily resolve the stars within the galaxy. The distance to the galaxy was previously believed to be only 2.4 Mpc. However, in 2008 scientists studying images from Hubble calculated the galaxy's distance at nearly 11 million light-years away, about 4 million light-years farther than previously thought, meaning it is a member of the IC 342 group of galaxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4536</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2366</span> Galaxy in the constellation Camelopardalis

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4449</span> Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 6388</span> Globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 2681</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3256</span> Peculiar galaxy in the constellation Vela

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 541</span> Galaxy in the constellation Cetus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 1386</span> Galaxy in the constellation Eridanus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 545</span> Galaxy in the constellation Cetus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4299</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 6509</span> Galaxy in the constellation Ophiuchus

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">4C +72.26</span> Radio galaxy in the constellation Draco

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LMC N79</span> LMC N79 is a nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

LMC N79 is an emission nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The nebula is part of the catalog of H-alpha stars and nebulae by Karl G. Henize, published in 1956. It is composed of the smaller nebulae N79A to N79E From a CO survey it was however seen that the nebula is larger and contains N79-S, N79-W and N79-E. These nebulae were described by Henize with other names, with N79-S being the original N79 nebula, N79-W being N77 and N79-E being N83.

References

  1. ↑ Gallagher & Grebel (2002). "Extragalactic Star Clusters: Speculations on the Future". Extragalactic Star Clusters, IAU Symposium. 207: 207. arXiv: astro-ph/0109052 . Bibcode:2002IAUS..207..745G.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Johnson, Kelsey (2001). "The Properties of Super Star Clusters In A Sample of Starburst Galaxies" (PDF). Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Colorado at Boulder, 2001. Bibcode:2001PhDT.......182J. S2CID   117321058. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-27.
  3. 1 2 3 de Grijs, Richard (2003). ""Super" Star Clusters" (PDF). Dynamics and Evolution of Dense Stellar Systems, 25th Meeting of the IAU, Joint Discussion 11, 18 July 2003, Sydney, Australia. 25. Bibcode:2003IAUJD..11E...4D . Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  4. ↑ Kobulnicky, Henry A. & Johnson, Kelsey E. (1999). "Signatures of the Youngest Starbursts: Optically Thick Thermal Bremsstrahlung Radio Sources in Henize 2-10". Astrophysical Journal. 527 (1): 154–166. arXiv: astro-ph/9907233 . Bibcode:1999ApJ...527..154K. doi:10.1086/308075. S2CID   15431678.
  5. 1 2 Johnson (2004). "Extragalactic Ultracompact HII Regions: Probing the Birth Environments of Super Star Clusters". ASP Conference Series. 527: 322. arXiv: astro-ph/0405125 . Bibcode:2004ASPC..322..339J.
  6. ↑ "Super Star Cluster Discovered in Our Own Milky Way - Universe Today". Universe Today. 2005-03-22. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
  7. ↑ Melo, V. P.; Muñoz-Tuñón, C.; Maíz-Apellániz, J.; Tenorio-Tagle, G. (2005-01-01). "Young Super Star Clusters in the Starburst of M82: The Catalog". The Astrophysical Journal. 619 (1): 270. arXiv: astro-ph/0409750 . Bibcode:2005ApJ...619..270M. doi:10.1086/426421. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   16452890.
  8. ↑ Hunter, Deidre A.; O'Connell, Robert W. (2000). "The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569". The Astronomical Journal. 20 (5): 2383–2401. arXiv: astro-ph/0009280 . Bibcode:2000AJ....120.2383H. doi:10.1086/316810. S2CID   6445978.
  9. ↑ Maoz, D.; Barth, A. J.; Sternberg, A.; Filippenko, A. V.; Ho, L. C.; Macchetto, F. D.; Rix, H.-W.; Schneider, D. P. (1996-06-01). "Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Images of Five Circumnuclear Star-Forming Rings". The Astronomical Journal. 111: 2248. arXiv: astro-ph/9604012 . Bibcode:1996AJ....111.2248M. doi:10.1086/117960. ISSN   0004-6256. S2CID   12241545.
  10. ↑ "FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions". www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  11. ↑ Wallace, Amy (March 10, 2017). "Hubble finds young super star cluster, giant star". UPI.
  12. ↑ Clark, J. S.; Negueruela, I.; Crowther, P. A.; Goodwin, S. P. (2005). "On the massive stellar population of the super star cluster Westerlund 1". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 434 (3): 949. arXiv: astro-ph/0504342 . Bibcode:2005A&A...434..949C. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20042413. S2CID   119042919.
  13. ↑ Fukui, Y.; Ohama, A.; Hanaoka, N.; Furukawa, N.; Torii, K.; Dawson, J. R.; Mizuno, N.; Hasegawa, K.; Fukuda, T.; Soga, S.; Moribe, N.; Kuroda, Y.; Hayakawa, T.; Kawamura, A.; Kuwahara, T.; Yamamoto, H.; Okuda, T.; Onishi, T.; Maezawa, H.; Mizuno, A. (2014). "Molecular Clouds Toward the Super Star Cluster Ngc 3603; Possible Evidence for a Cloud-Cloud Collision in Triggering the Cluster Formation". The Astrophysical Journal. 780 (1): 36. arXiv: 1306.2090 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...780...36F. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/780/1/36. S2CID   53118305.
  14. ↑ Massey, Philip; Hunter, Deidre A. (1998). "Star Formation in R136: A Cluster of O3 Stars Revealed by Hubble Space Telescope Spectroscopy". The Astrophysical Journal. 493 (1): 180–194. Bibcode:1998ApJ...493..180M. doi: 10.1086/305126 .
  15. ↑ Ochsendorf, Bram B.; Zinnecker, Hans; Nayak, Omnarayani; Bally, John; Meixner, Margaret; Jones, Olivia C.; Indebetouw, Remy; Rahman, Mubdi (2017-10-01). "The star-forming complex LMC-N79 as a future rival to 30 Doradus". Nature Astronomy. 1 (11): 784–790. arXiv: 1710.00805 . Bibcode:2017NatAs...1..784O. doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0268-0. ISSN   2397-3366.
  16. ↑ "NGC 1722". simbad.cds.unistra.fr. Retrieved 2025-01-16.
  17. ↑ Nayak, O.; Meixner, M.; Sewiło, M.; Ochsendorf, B.; Bolatto, A.; Indebetouw, R.; Kawamura, A.; Onishi, T.; Fukui, Y. (2019-06-01). "ALMA Reveals Kinematics of Super Star Cluster Candidate H72.97-69.39 in LMC-N79". The Astrophysical Journal. 877 (2): 135. Bibcode:2019ApJ...877..135N. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab1b38 . ISSN   0004-637X.
  18. ↑ Nayak, Omnarayani; Hirschauer, Alec S.; Kavanagh, Patrick J.; Meixner, Margaret; Chu, Laurie; Habel, Nolan; Jones, Olivia C.; Lenkić, Laura; Nally, Conor; Reiter, Megan; Robberto, Massimo; Sargent, B. A. (2024-03-01). "JWST Mid-infrared Spectroscopy Resolves Gas, Dust, and Ice in Young Stellar Objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud". The Astrophysical Journal. 963 (2): 94. Bibcode:2024ApJ...963...94N. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad18bc . ISSN   0004-637X.
  19. ↑ Nayak, Omnarayani; Nally, Conor; Hirschauer, Alec S.; Jones, Olivia C.; Jaspers, Jeroen; Lenkić, Laura; Meixner, Margaret; Habel, Nolan; Reiter, Megan; Chu, Laurie; Kavanagh, Patrick J.; Robberto, Massimo; Sargent, B. A. (2024-11-01). "Embedded Young Stellar Objects near H72.97-69.39: A Forming Super Star Cluster in N79". The Astrophysical Journal. 975 (2): 262. Bibcode:2024ApJ...975..262N. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad7baf . ISSN   0004-637X.
  20. ↑ Sabbi, E.; Nota, A.; Cignoni, M.; Degl'Innocenti, S.; De Marchi, G.; Gallagher, J. S.; Panagia, N.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Romaniello, M.; Smith1, L. J.; Sirianni, M.; Tosi, M. (2011). "NGC 346: Tracing the Evolution of a Super Star Cluster". Stellar Clusters & Associations: A Ria Workshop on Gaia: 244–249. Bibcode:2011sca..conf..244S.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ Hunter, Deidre A.; O'Connell, Robert W.; Gallagher, J. S.; Smecker-Hane, Tammy A. (2000). "The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569". The Astronomical Journal. 120 (5): 2383. arXiv: astro-ph/0009280 . Bibcode:2000AJ....120.2383H. doi:10.1086/316810. S2CID   6445978.
  22. ↑ Hunter, Deidre A.; O'Connell, Robert W.; Gallagher, J. S.; Smecker-Hane, Tammy A. (2000). "The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569". The Astronomical Journal. 120 (5): 2383. arXiv: astro-ph/0009280 . Bibcode:2000AJ....120.2383H. doi:10.1086/316810. S2CID   6445978.
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