{"id":778069,"date":"2024-02-29T09:32:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T14:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778069"},"modified":"2024-02-29T09:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T14:32:59","slug":"diffuse-hot-gas-detected-around-a-potential-super-star-cluster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778069","title":{"rendered":"Diffuse hot gas detected around a potential super-star cluster"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\n \n X-ray images of H72.97\u221269.39 in soft [0.5 \u2212 1.2 keV] (a), medium [1.2 \u2212 2.0 keV] (b), hard [2.0 \u2212 7.0 keV](c), and all bands (d). Credit: Webb et al., 2024. \n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray spacecraft, astronomers have inspected a potential super-star cluster, designated HSO BMHERICC J72.971176-69.391112, or H72.97\u221269.39 for short. The new observations resulted in the detection of a diffuse hot gas around this cluster. The finding was reported in a paper published February 21 on the pre-print server arXiv<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n
Super-star clusters (SSCs) are very massive young open clusters (OCs) that eventually evolve into globular clusters (GCs). They usually contain a very large number of young, massive stars that ionize a surrounding region of interstellar atomic hydrogen (HII region). Observations of SSCs are important for astronomers seeking to improve our understanding of formation and evolution of GCs and their host galaxies.<\/p>\n
Located some 160,000 light years away, H72.97\u221269.39 is a highly-embedded, potential SSC in the star-forming complex N79 of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). With an estimated age of less than 500,000 years, H72.97\u221269.39 is in the earliest stages of formation, exhibits an accelerating star-formation rate and has a bolometric luminosity at a level of two million solar luminosities.<\/p>\n
Although H72.97\u221269.39 has been investigated in optical, infrared, and submillimeter wavelengths, it has not been comprehensively studied in X-rays. That is why a team of astronomers led by Trinity Webb of the Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio, decided to employ Chandra to take a closer look at the X-ray emission from this cluster.<\/p>\n
“Here we study the X-ray emission of H72.97\u221269.39 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and we explore stellar-wind feedback at an early stage in star formation,” the researchers wrote in the paper.<\/p>\n
Chandra observations detected diffuse X-ray emission around H72.97\u221269.39. The identified X-ray emission is extended about 10 arcseconds in radius, which suggests that the hot gas is produced by stellar-wind feedback in the earliest stages of formation.<\/p>\n
The astronomers found that the X-ray emission is especially hard, dominated by photons above 1.2 keV. This points to a high hot gas temperature, a large absorbing column in the region, or a contribution from a non-thermal\/power-law component. Furthermore, X-rays appear to be spatially anti-coincident with the dense carbon monoxide gas, which may indicate that the hot gas is preferentially occupying the lower-density cavities.<\/p>\n
The study also found that the X-ray luminosity of H72.97\u221269.39 is one order of magnitude below expected if the shock-heated gas is confined by a cool shell. In this case, the shell heats up via thermal conduction and evaporates. This result indicates that even in such an early stage of a massive star cluster formation process, significant amounts of wind energy are being lost.<\/p>\n
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More information:<\/strong> \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTrinity L. Webb et al, Detection of Diffuse Hot Gas Around the Young, Potential Superstar Cluster H72.97-69.39, arXiv<\/i> (2024). DOI: 10.48550\/arxiv.2402.14056<\/p>\n