Open cluster Haffner 18

Eso_eso0544b_1024

eso_eso0544b December 25th, 2005

Credit: ESO

Open stellar cluster Haffner 18, perfectly illustrating three different stages of this process of star formation : in the centre of the picture, Haffner 18, a group of mature stars that have already dispersed their birth nebulae, represents the completed product or immediate past of the star formation process. Located at the bottom left of this cluster, a very young star, just come 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 km/s. It must have been created some 40,000 years ago. The cluster is between 25,000 and 30,000 light-years away from us.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0544b/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Haffner 18
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Grouping > Cluster > Open
Eso_eso0544b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 7h 52m 35.9s
DEC = -26° 22’ 54.5”
Orientation
North is 359.9° CCW
Field of View
6.8 x 6.9 arcminutes
Constellation
Puppis

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red VLT (FORS2) Infrared (I) -
Orange VLT (FORS2) Optical (R) -
Green VLT (FORS2) Optical (V) -
Blue VLT (FORS2) Optical (B) -
Eso_eso0544b_1280
×
ID
eso0544b
Subject Category
B.3.6.4.1  
Subject Name
Haffner 18
Credits
ESO
Release Date
2005-12-25T00:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0544b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Distance in light years from: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010A%26A...511A..38V
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
FORS2, FORS2, FORS2, FORS2
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Green, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, R, V, B
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
118.149497679, -26.3818071822
Reference Dimension
2035.0, 2046.0
Reference Pixel
1017.5, 1023.0
Scale
-5.58180949299e-05, 5.58180949299e-05
Rotation
359.90525673094936
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso0544b
Metadata Date
2016-07-19T11:51:40+02:00
Metadata Version
1.0
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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