Masgomas-1 is a massive cluster of young stars found in the Scutum-Centaurus arm of the Milky Way about 11,500 light years.
At present only a little is known about more than a dozen massive clusters in the Milky Way of the hundred that are estimated to exist.
These massive clusters reveal the star formation activity of galaxies and are excellent for studying the structure and processes of our own galaxy.
Massive star cluster Masgomas-1 (false color). With red circles have been marked classified massive stars by astrophysicists.
Until recently, it was assumed that our galaxy, the Milky Way was forming stars at a slower pace than other galaxies that corresponded to it in size and features. It was, in terms of star formation, thought to be "a lazy galaxy," says astrophysicist Artemio Herrero IAC.
This began to change in the mid-nineties, when they discoveries began to proliferate as a result of data taken in the infrared spectrum. "The infrared light can pass through clouds of dust obscure the plane of our galaxy, which concentrates the formation of new stars. This formation is revealed by the most massive stars, which are short-lived, and thus mark the place where stars have recently formed or are forming yet, "explains Smith.
The discovery of Masgomas-1 has been realized thanks to observations with the infrared spectrograph LIRIS, installed on the William Herschel Telescope of the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the IAC, La Palma. This discovery is part of a systematic search for massive clusters, developed by a team of astrophysicists at the IAC and CEFCA.
The findings of the study were published in the May issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. are part of the doctoral thesis carried out at ULL Joy Sebastian Ramirez, directed by Smith, also a researcher of the IAC is a professor at the ULL, and Antonio Marin-Franch, CEFCA investigator.
Our galaxy, a 'machine' to form stars
Infrared data of recent years have uncovered new young star clusters and indicate that the Milky Way is actually a very efficient machine in the formation of new stars. As described by Joy Ramirez, IAC astrophysicist, "our galaxy is vigorous and full of activity."
We will not know what level of star formation activity exists in the Milky Way until we have a complete idea of how many clusters it contains. Clusters can take any size, but it is the more massive clusters that make for the star formation activity.There is an implicit consensus, but generalized to consider a very massive star cluster as if the combined mass of its stars exceeds 10,000 solar masses.
Despite being very massive objects, hardly more than a dozen of these clusters are known in the Milky Way, but at least a hundred are expected to exist if we compare our results with other spiral galaxies. For this reason, Joy Ramirez says: "The discovery of this massive cluster by our group is an important contribution to the census of massive clusters and gives a strong boost to our search method."
The search method uses IAC team star catalogs in the infrared (2MASS catalogs or as UKIDSS) to find clusters of stars (overdensities) in certain portions of the sky. "Instead of making the search using all the stars in the catalog, first we filter photometry to stay with stars that could be of spectral type OB, ie massive stars, and then look for clusters. Thus, we find groups of candidates for massive stars, with the rest of the stars that surround it, are the candidate cluster, "says the astrophysicist.
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At present only a little is known about more than a dozen massive clusters in the Milky Way of the hundred that are estimated to exist.
These massive clusters reveal the star formation activity of galaxies and are excellent for studying the structure and processes of our own galaxy.
Massive star cluster Masgomas-1 (false color). With red circles have been marked classified massive stars by astrophysicists.
Credit: LIRIS / William Herschel Telescope.
Researchers at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Canarias (IAC), the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Center for Physics of the Cosmos of Aragon (CEFCA) have discovered a massive star cluster near the Earth.The new cluster, called Masgomas-1, has about 20,000 solar masses, twice the mass of Trumpler 14, the star cluster known to be closer to our planet. In the Milky Way at present only about a dozen of these massive clusters (of more than 10,000 solar masses) are known, and about a hundred are estimated to exist. It is these clusters that set the pace of star formation activity and are ideal for studying the structure and the processes taking place in our galaxy.
Masgomas-1 is a massive open cluster that contains more than 60 young, massive stars held together by force of gravity. It is located in the Milky Way at 11,500 light years from Earth, towards the galactic center in the Scutum-Centaurus arm ( Scutum-Centarus ) and is somewhat remote from the base that connects the arm to the bar of the galaxy.
Star clusters are groups of stars that formed in the same time from the same cloud of molecular gas and dust. Open clusters, such as the recently discovered Masgomas-1, contain fewer and younger stars and are less dense than other existing clusters such as the globular with higher density and hundreds of thousands of old stars (evolved). An open star cluster that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth are the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus.
Researchers at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Canarias (IAC), the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Center for Physics of the Cosmos of Aragon (CEFCA) have discovered a massive star cluster near the Earth.The new cluster, called Masgomas-1, has about 20,000 solar masses, twice the mass of Trumpler 14, the star cluster known to be closer to our planet. In the Milky Way at present only about a dozen of these massive clusters (of more than 10,000 solar masses) are known, and about a hundred are estimated to exist. It is these clusters that set the pace of star formation activity and are ideal for studying the structure and the processes taking place in our galaxy.
Masgomas-1 is a massive open cluster that contains more than 60 young, massive stars held together by force of gravity. It is located in the Milky Way at 11,500 light years from Earth, towards the galactic center in the Scutum-Centaurus arm ( Scutum-Centarus ) and is somewhat remote from the base that connects the arm to the bar of the galaxy.
Star clusters are groups of stars that formed in the same time from the same cloud of molecular gas and dust. Open clusters, such as the recently discovered Masgomas-1, contain fewer and younger stars and are less dense than other existing clusters such as the globular with higher density and hundreds of thousands of old stars (evolved). An open star cluster that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth are the Pleiades in the constellation Taurus.
Until recently, it was assumed that our galaxy, the Milky Way was forming stars at a slower pace than other galaxies that corresponded to it in size and features. It was, in terms of star formation, thought to be "a lazy galaxy," says astrophysicist Artemio Herrero IAC.
This began to change in the mid-nineties, when they discoveries began to proliferate as a result of data taken in the infrared spectrum. "The infrared light can pass through clouds of dust obscure the plane of our galaxy, which concentrates the formation of new stars. This formation is revealed by the most massive stars, which are short-lived, and thus mark the place where stars have recently formed or are forming yet, "explains Smith.
The discovery of Masgomas-1 has been realized thanks to observations with the infrared spectrograph LIRIS, installed on the William Herschel Telescope of the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the IAC, La Palma. This discovery is part of a systematic search for massive clusters, developed by a team of astrophysicists at the IAC and CEFCA.
The findings of the study were published in the May issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. are part of the doctoral thesis carried out at ULL Joy Sebastian Ramirez, directed by Smith, also a researcher of the IAC is a professor at the ULL, and Antonio Marin-Franch, CEFCA investigator.
Our galaxy, a 'machine' to form stars
Infrared data of recent years have uncovered new young star clusters and indicate that the Milky Way is actually a very efficient machine in the formation of new stars. As described by Joy Ramirez, IAC astrophysicist, "our galaxy is vigorous and full of activity."
We will not know what level of star formation activity exists in the Milky Way until we have a complete idea of how many clusters it contains. Clusters can take any size, but it is the more massive clusters that make for the star formation activity.There is an implicit consensus, but generalized to consider a very massive star cluster as if the combined mass of its stars exceeds 10,000 solar masses.
Despite being very massive objects, hardly more than a dozen of these clusters are known in the Milky Way, but at least a hundred are expected to exist if we compare our results with other spiral galaxies. For this reason, Joy Ramirez says: "The discovery of this massive cluster by our group is an important contribution to the census of massive clusters and gives a strong boost to our search method."
The search method uses IAC team star catalogs in the infrared (2MASS catalogs or as UKIDSS) to find clusters of stars (overdensities) in certain portions of the sky. "Instead of making the search using all the stars in the catalog, first we filter photometry to stay with stars that could be of spectral type OB, ie massive stars, and then look for clusters. Thus, we find groups of candidates for massive stars, with the rest of the stars that surround it, are the candidate cluster, "says the astrophysicist.
Contacts and sources:
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