NGC 1929 in N44: A Surprisingly Bright Superbubble

NGC 1929 is a star cluster rooted in the nebula N44, Which is found in the Large Magellan Cloud.Massive stars in the cluster produces powerful radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and explode as supernovas Relatively Quickly. Winds from the massive stars and supernova shocks from carve out "superbubbles" in the gas seen in X-rays by Chandra (blue). Infrared data show dust (red) and cooler gas and optical light (yellow) Reveals where ultraviolet radiation is Causing the gas to glow.

This composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellan Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located About 160.000 light years from Earth.

Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44. The massive stars produce intense radiation; expel matter at high speeds, and Race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge Cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) show regions created by hot winds and these shocks, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and gas cooler are found. The optical light from the 2.2m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows which ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is in the gas causing nebula to glow.

                                                                  

A long-running problem in high-energy astrophysics has been some superbubbles in the LMC, N44 Including, give off a lot more X-rays than expected from models of their structure. A Chandra study published in 2011 Showed That There is two additional sources of the bright X-ray emission: supernova shock waves striking the walls of the Cavities, and hot materials from the cavity walls evaporating. The observations show no evidence for an enhancement of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the Cavities, THUS Possibility ruling out this as an explanation for the bright X-ray emission. This is the first time that the data have been good enough to Distinguish Between different sources of the X-rays produced by superbubbles.

The Chandra study of N44 and another superbubble in the LMC was led by Anne Jaskot from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The co-authors Dave Strickland Were from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, Sally Oey from University of Michigan, You-Hua Chu from University of Illinois and Guillermo Garcia-Segura from Institute de Astronomies-UNAM in Ensenada, Mexico.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., Manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

Fast Facts for NGC 1929:

Credit  X-ray: NASA / CXC / U.Mich. / S.Oey, IR: NASA / JPL, Optical: ESO/WFI/2.2-m

Release Date   August 30, 2012

Scale    Image is 25 arcing across (1200 light years)

Category         Normal Stars & Star Clusters

Coordinates (J2000)    RA 05h 22m 17.00s | Dec -67 ° 76 ‘38.00”

Constellation   Golden

Observation Date        September 22, 2002

Observation Time        5 hours 33 min.

Obs. ID           3356

Instrument       ACIS

References      Jaskot, AE et al 2011, ApJ, 729, 28, arXiv: 1101.0280

Color Code     X-ray (Blue), Infrared (Red) Optical (Yellow)

Distance Estimate       About 160.000 light years