Go Back   IceInSpace > Images > Deep Space

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 10-11-2010, 09:00 PM
SkyViking's Avatar
SkyViking (Rolf)
Registered User

SkyViking is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand
Posts: 2,260
Super star cluster R136 - The Heart of the Tarantula

The clouds have finally parted, and I have also been less busy lately, so here is an alternative view of a familiar target:

This image is a close up of the very core of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With this image I have tried to present a decent view of the central region of the nebula while still resolving the extremely dense central cluster R136 as much as possible.

Image details:
Data taken 06/11 + 08/11 2010
10" Newtonian f/5, Philips ToUCam Pro SC1
Luminosity: 32x30.5s + 180x16s + 400x0.9s
Colour: 39x15.5s with IR blocking fliter

Image is available here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/130214798/original

R136 is a super star cluster which is a very large region of star formation thought to be the precursor of a globular cluster. It is very young at only 1-2 million years and consists of giant and supergiant stars of which the majority are of spectral type O3. The cluster also contains several Wolf-Rayet stars.
Speculation long sorrounded the nature of the central component of the cluster, named separately as R136a, and it was once thought to be a single hypergiant star of an incredible 1500 solar masses. R136a's true nature was recently resolved by holographic speckle interferometry and found to be a dense star cluster containing very massive and luminous stars. Three extremely luminous stars (R136a1, R136a2 and R136a3) dominate this cluster and are separated by only 0.10 and 0.48 arc seconds. R136a1 is the most massive star found to date with 265 solar masses, as well as being the most luminous at 10 million times the brightness of the Sun.
The entire R136 super cluster produces most of the energy that makes the Tarantula Nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it will probably become a globular cluster in the future.
A super star cluster, named Westerlund 1, also exists in the Milky Way but is heavily obscured by galactic dust.

A spectacular HST close-up of R136 can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...2009-12-15.jpg

Hope you enjoy, all comments and critique is welcome as usual.
Regards, Rolf
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (Tarantula core 06-08112010 final.jpg)
129.0 KB152 views
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-11-2010, 09:18 PM
strongmanmike's Avatar
strongmanmike (Michael)
Highest Observatory in Oz

strongmanmike is offline
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Canberra
Posts: 17,523
Great stuff Rolph, even bigger star than Pismis 24-1 (maybe it is still a double too though..?) your shot is upside down and back to front compared to the HST shot...amazing to think that is a group of stars in another galaxy

Mike
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-11-2010, 08:32 AM
multiweb's Avatar
multiweb (Marc)
ze frogginator

multiweb is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Sydney
Posts: 22,071
Very nice indeed. You've also started to resolve the smaller denser core. Pretty cool.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-11-2010, 08:18 PM
RobF's Avatar
RobF (Rob)
Mostly harmless...

RobF is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 5,735
Impressive and educational Rolf. Not one I was familiar with. Kudos yet again for such great work on the path less travelled.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 20-11-2010, 08:16 PM
SkyViking's Avatar
SkyViking (Rolf)
Registered User

SkyViking is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand
Posts: 2,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike View Post
Great stuff Rolph, even bigger star than Pismis 24-1 (maybe it is still a double too though..?) your shot is upside down and back to front compared to the HST shot...amazing to think that is a group of stars in another galaxy

Mike
Thanks Mike, yes this is a truly massive star! Also amazing to think that just 1-2 million years ago the whole Tarantula nebulas was probably not even visible, since this young cluster provides all the energy that lights it up.

Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb View Post
Very nice indeed. You've also started to resolve the smaller denser core. Pretty cool.
Thank you Marc. I added the short 0.9s subs deliberately to get the highest possible resolution in the core, so I'm glad you noticed this

Quote:
Originally Posted by RobF View Post
Impressive and educational Rolf. Not one I was familiar with. Kudos yet again for such great work on the path less travelled.
Thanks Rob, glad you liked it. It's always great to be able to show a new aspect of an otherwise familiar target.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 21-11-2010, 12:26 AM
alexch's Avatar
alexch (Alex)
Registered User

alexch is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 773
Thanks Rolf,
I learned something new today.

Cheers,
Alex
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 22-11-2010, 07:42 PM
Alchemy (Clive)
Quietly watching

Alchemy is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Yarra Junction
Posts: 3,044
Certainly a different approach by using the webcam, gives a much increased scale, it's come up very well, would be interesting to see just what detail you could come up with on something like eta carinae homonculous i have seen it done once before to bring out the detail missed by longer exposures quite an effective technique for brighter objects.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 23-11-2010, 06:07 AM
SkyViking's Avatar
SkyViking (Rolf)
Registered User

SkyViking is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand
Posts: 2,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by alexch View Post
Thanks Rolf,
I learned something new today.

Cheers,
Alex
Thanks Alex, glad you liked it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alchemy View Post
Certainly a different approach by using the webcam, gives a much increased scale, it's come up very well, would be interesting to see just what detail you could come up with on something like eta carinae homonculous i have seen it done once before to bring out the detail missed by longer exposures quite an effective technique for brighter objects.
Thank you Clive. I did the Homunculus earlier this year and got some interesting details. The thread is here: Eta Carinae and Homunculus with 5x powermate
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 23-11-2010, 04:53 PM
Hagar (Doug)
Registered User

Hagar is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 4,646
Great close up Rolf, Many here would never have seen this level of detail in the core of the spider.

Well done.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 23-11-2010, 05:00 PM
that_guy's Avatar
that_guy (Tony)
Local Korean Millennial

that_guy is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Charleville
Posts: 2,063
my fav DS object and i never knew there was a cluster in the middle great pic learnt something new today
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 25-02-2011, 06:36 AM
SkyViking's Avatar
SkyViking (Rolf)
Registered User

SkyViking is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand
Posts: 2,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hagar View Post
Great close up Rolf, Many here would never have seen this level of detail in the core of the spider.

Well done.
Thank you Doug, yeah I wasn't aware of it either. A very interesting and quite extreme area for sure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by that_guy View Post
my fav DS object and i never knew there was a cluster in the middle great pic learnt something new today
Thanks Tony Glad you liked it.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 25-02-2011, 06:39 AM
telecasterguru's Avatar
telecasterguru (Frank)
Have scope will travel!

telecasterguru is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Pitnacree NSW
Posts: 1,500
Very impressive.

Frank
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 26-02-2011, 04:31 PM
John Hothersall's Avatar
John Hothersall
Registered User

John Hothersall is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Thornlands, Brisbane.
Posts: 1,346
Love it when imagers stretch to the limits and you separate those stars out well, pity I can't image this one with the roof in the way.

John.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 06-03-2011, 08:52 PM
SkyViking's Avatar
SkyViking (Rolf)
Registered User

SkyViking is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Waitakere Ranges, New Zealand
Posts: 2,260
Quote:
Originally Posted by telecasterguru View Post
Very impressive.

Frank
Thank you Frank

Quote:
Originally Posted by John Hothersall View Post
Love it when imagers stretch to the limits and you separate those stars out well, pity I can't image this one with the roof in the way.

John.
Thanks John My camera is very modest but I do enjoy to push it to the limit. Currently I'm looking forward to getting a better cam later this year - which will definitely be pushed to the limit as well.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
r136, tarantula, toucam

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 06:44 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement