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Star Clusters on a Clandestine Collision Course
Astronomers originally thought that just one massive star cluster shone brightly in a huge star forming region of the Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus. But closer analysis using data from the Hubble Space Telescope shows that it is actually two different clusters that are just starting to collide and merge. A team of astronomers led by Elena Sabbi of the Space Telescope Science Institute noticed that different stars in the same region were of different ages, by at least one million years. Besides the age differences, the scientists also noticed two distinct regions, with one having the elongated “look” of a merging cluster.
“Stars are supposed to form in clusters,” said Sabbi, “but there are many young stars outside 30 Doradus that could not have formed where they are; they may have been ejected at very high velocity from 30 Doradus itself.”
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Read the rest of Star Clusters on a Clandestine Collision Course (487 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: 30 Doradus, Hubble Space Telescope, star formation, Tarantula Nebula
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2012-08-16 12:00:19
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/96840/star-clusters-on-a-clandestine-collision-course/
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