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Anne’s Image of the Day: Open Star Cluster Haffner 18
read more at Anne’s Astronomy News http://annesastronomynews.com/
September 10, 2013
Haffner 18, an open star cluster in Puppis
Image Credit: ESO
Haffner 18 is an open star cluster that lies in the center of the emission nebula NGC 2467, some 19,200 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Puppis (the Stern). Its age is somewhat controversial, some considering it to be as young as only 1 million years.
This image is perfectly illustrating three different stages of the process of star formation: in the center of Haffner 18 lies a group of mature stars that have already dispersed their birth nebulae. These stars represent the completed product or immediate past of the star formation process.
Located at the bottom left of this cluster, a very young star, just comes into existence and, still surrounded by its birth cocoon of gas, provides insight into the very present of star birth. Finally, the dust clouds towards the right corner of the image are active stellar nurseries that will produce more new stars in the future.
Haffner 18 contains about 50 stars, among which several short lived, massive ones. The massive star still surrounded by a small, dense shell of hydrogen, has the rather cryptic name of FM3060a. The shell is about 2.5 light-years wide and expands at a speed of 20 kilometers per second. It must have been created some 40,000 years ago.
This image is taken in February 2000 with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It was created by using four different color filters, including infrared. North is up and East is to the left.
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Source: http://annesastronomynews.com/annes-image-of-the-day-open-star-cluster-haffner-18/
