R136

This article is about the star cluster. For the road in Dublin, see R136 road. For routes 136, see route 136.
R136
In ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3
Credit: NASA, ESA
Observation data (J2000.0 epoch)
Right ascension05h 38m 42.396s[1]
Declination−69° 06′ 03.36″[1]
Distance157 kly (48.5 kpc)
Apparent magnitude (V)9.50
Physical characteristics
Mass90,000[2] M☉
Estimated age1.5+0.3
−0.7 million years[2]
Other designationsUCAC2 1803442, SAO 249329, HD 38268, TYC 9163-1014-1, CD-69 324, GC 7114[3]
Associations
ConstellationDorado
See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters

R136 (formerly known as RMC 136 from the Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds catalogue[4]) is the central concentration of stars in the NGC 2070 star cluster, which lies at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. When originally named it was an unresolved stellar object (catalogued as HD 38268 and Wolf-Rayet star Brey 82) but is now known to include 72 class O and Wolf–Rayet stars within 5 parsecs (20 arc seconds) of the centre of the cluster.[5] The extreme number and concentration of young massive stars in this part of the LMC qualifies it as a starburst region.[6]

  1. ^ a b Høg, E.; Fabricius, C.; Makarov, V.V.; Urban, S.; Corbin, T.; Wycoff, G.; Bastian, U.; Schwekendiek, P.; Wicenec, A. (January 2000). "The Tycho-2 catalogue of the 2.5 million brightest stars – Letter to the Editor". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 355: L27–L30. Bibcode:2000A&A...355L..27H.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference crowther2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "RMC 136". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg.
  4. ^ Feast, M. W.; Thackeray, A. D.; Wesselink, A. J. (1960). "The brightest stars in the Magellanic Clouds". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 121 (4): 337. Bibcode:1960MNRAS.121..337F. doi:10.1093/mnras/121.4.337.
  5. ^ Doran, E. I.; Crowther, P. A.; de Koter, A.; Evans, C. J.; McEvoy, C.; Walborn, N. R.; Bastian, N.; Bestenlehner, J. M.; Grafener, G.; Herrero, A.; Kohler, K.; Maiz Apellaniz, J.; Najarro, F.; Puls, J.; Sana, H.; Schneider, F. R. N.; Taylor, W. D.; van Loon, J. Th.; Vink, J. S. (2013). "The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey - XI. A census of the hot luminous stars and their feedback in 30 Doradus". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 558: A134. arXiv:1308.3412. Bibcode:2013A&A...558A.134D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321824. S2CID 118510909.
  6. ^ Brandl, B.; Sams, B. J.; Bertoldi, F.; Eckart, A.; Genzel, R.; Drapatz, S.; Hofmann, R.; Loewe, M.; Quirrenbach, A. (1996). "Adaptive Optics Near-Infrared Imaging of R136 in 30 Doradus: The Stellar Population of a Nearby Starburst". The Astrophysical Journal. 466: 254. Bibcode:1996ApJ...466..254B. doi:10.1086/177507.