Colliding High-Speed Winds Light Up the Quintuplet Cluster

Chandra_227_1024

chandra_227 July 28th, 2004

Credit: NASA/CXC/Northwestern U./C.Law & F.Yusef-Zadeh

This Chandra image presents the first detection of X-rays from stars in the Quintuplet star cluster. Named for its five brightest stars at infrared wavelengths, the Quintuplet is known to be home to hundreds of stars. Several of these are very massive stars that are rapidly losing gas from their surfaces in high-speed stellar winds. The bright point-like concentrations of 50 million degree Celsius gas in Chandra\'s image are thought to be caused by collisions between the high-speed winds in massive stars that have closely orbiting partners. Colliding stellar winds could also explain the diffuse X-radiation seen between the stars in the Quintuplet.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/quint/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Quintuplet Cluster
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Grouping > Cluster

Distance

Universescale1
26,000 light years
Chandra_227_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 17h 46m 15.4s
DEC = -28° 49’ 37.4”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
0.6 x 0.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue Chandra (ACIS) X-ray 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Blue
Chandra_227_1280
×
ID
227
Subject Category
B.3.6.4  
Subject Name
Quintuplet Cluster
Credits
NASA/CXC/Northwestern U./C.Law & F.Yusef-Zadeh
Release Date
2004-07-28
Lightyears
26,000
Redshift
26,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/quint/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Blue
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
266.5640091, -28.8270618
Reference Dimension
2400.0, 2400.0
Reference Pixel
1201.0, 1201.0
Scale
4.38399e-06, 4.3839896e-06
Rotation
0.02
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
quint_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2012-12-21T09:50:26-05:00
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
26,000 light years

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