Trumpler 14 (''Tr 14'') is an
open cluster
An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, an ...
with a diameter of , located within the inner regions of the
Carina Nebula, approximately from Earth.
Together with the nearby
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 ...
, they are the main clusters of the
Carina OB1 stellar association, which is the largest association in the Carina Nebula, although Trumpler 14 is not as massive or as large as Trumpler 16.
About stars have been identified in Trumpler 14
[
] and the total mass of the cluster is estimated to be 4,300
.
Age
It is one of the youngest known star clusters, estimates range from 300 to 500 thousand years old.
For comparison, the massive
super star cluster R136
R136 (formerly known as RMC 136 from the Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds catalogue) 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. Wh ...
is about 1 to 2 million years old,
and the famous
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...
is about 115 million years old.
Members
Due to its location within the inner parts of the Carina Nebula, Trumpler 14 is currently undergoing massive star formation. As a result, the star cluster exhibits many stars of late O to early A spectral type, which are very massive (at least 10 solar masses), short-lived and hot (). The brightest member is
HD 93129
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 cluste ...
, a triple system consisting of three individual class O stars.
It also contains
HD 93128
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 associat ...
, an O3.5 V((fc))z star, an extremely hot and young main sequence star.
Future
In a few million years, as its stars die, it will trigger the formation of metal-rich stars, and in a few hundred million years Trumpler 14 will probably dissipate.
Gallery
File:Carina Nebula.jpg, Image of the Carina OB1 association. Trumpler 14 is the massive cluster of stars at the upper right of center.
File:ESO-Trumpler14-cluster.jpg, Trumpler 14 as seen by the Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD) mounted on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). Image is based on a combination of K and H filters. Field of view is about two arcminutes across.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trumpler 14
Carina Nebula
Open clusters
Carina (constellation)
Trumpler catalog
Star-forming regions