Carina OB1 is a giant OB association in the Carina Nebula, which is home to some of the most massive and luminous stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. It includes the young star clusters Collinder 228,

NGC 3293 NGC 3293 is an open cluster in the Carina constellation. It was discovered by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and ge ...

NGC 3324 NGC 3324 is an open cluster in the southern constellation Carina, located northwest of the Carina Nebula at a distance of from Earth. It is closely associated with the emission nebula , also known as . The two are often confused as a single ob ...

, IC 2581,

Trumpler 14 Trumpler 14 (''Tr 14'') is an open cluster with a diameter of , located within the inner regions of the Carina Nebula, approximately from Earth. Together with the nearby Trumpler 16, they are the main clusters of the Carina OB1 stellar associa ...

, Trumpler 15 and

Trumpler 16 Trumpler 16 (''Tr 16'') is a massive open cluster that is home to some of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way galaxy. It is situated within the Carina Nebula complex in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm, located approximately from Earth. The cl ...

, the last being the home of

Eta Carinae Eta Carinae (η Carinae, abbreviated to η Car), formerly known as Eta Argus, is a stellar system containing at least two stars with a combined luminosity greater than five million times that of the Sun, located around distant in th ...

. It also includes another massive and luminous star,

HD 93129A HD 93129 is a triple star system in the Carina Nebula, with all three components being hot O class stars amongst the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. It is the dominant member of the Trumpler 14 star cluster, a young star cluster w ...

. It is approximately from Earth. It is one of the largest known stellar associations, along with

Sagittarius OB5 Sagittarius ( ) may refer to: *Sagittarius (constellation) *Sagittarius (astrology), a sign of the Zodiac Ships *''SuperStar Sagittarius'', a cruise ship *USS Sagittarius (AKN-2), USS ''Sagittarius'' (AKN-2), a World War II US Navy cargo ship ...

and Cygnus OB2. It is much easier to see than that of the other associations since Carina OB1 has relatively little dust extinction in its region. Together with

Carina OB2 Carina OB2 is a giant OB association In astronomy, stellar kinematics is the observational study or measurement of the kinematics or motions of stars through space. Stellar kinematics encompasses the measurement of stellar velocities in the Mil ...

, they compromise the most massive stellar grouping known in the galaxy. Carina OB1 is about across, and is the most massive stellar association in the Milky Way Galaxy since it lies within an active emission nebula. It contains many hot luminous stars which share common characteristics.

References

Carina Nebula Stellar associations Carina (constellation) {{star-cluster-stub