NGC 3603: X-Rays From A Starburst Cluster
Explanation:
A mere 20,000 light-years from
the Sun lies the
NGC 3603 star cluster,
a resident of the nearby
Carina
spiral arm
of our
Milky
Way galaxy.
Seen here in this recent false-color
x-ray image from the Chandra Observatory,
NGC 3603
is well known to astronomers
as a young cluster in a large
galactic star-forming region.
The image colors were chosen to show the relative x-ray brightness
of the many individual sources present, where
green are faint and red to purple hues are bright sources of x-rays.
The stars in the cluster were formed in a single "burst" of star
formation only one or two million years ago,
so the x-rays are believed to come from the massive young
stars themselves or from their energetic stellar winds.
Since other common galactic
sources
of x-rays such as
supernova remnants and neutron stars
represent final stages in the life of a massive
star, they are unlikely to be present in such a young cluster.
Nearby NGC 3603 is thought to be a convenient
example of the star clusters that populate
distant
starburst galaxies.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
