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Westerlund 1: monolithic formation of a starburst cluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2017

Ignacio Negueruela ,
J. Simon Clark ,
Ben W. Ritchie  and
Simon P. Goodwin
Ignacio Negueruela
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Ingeniería de Sistemas y Teoría de la Señal Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Alicante Carretera de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, E03690, San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante, Spain email: [email protected]
J. Simon Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Open University, Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
Ben W. Ritchie
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Open University, Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
Simon P. Goodwin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S3 7RH, UK
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Abstract

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Westerlund 1 is in all likelihood the most massive young cluster in the Milky Way, with a mass on the order of 105M⊙. To determine its bulk properties we have made multi-epoch radial velocity measurements for a substantial fraction of its OB stars and evolved supergiants and obtained multi-object spectroscopy of candidate cluster members in its locale. The results of these two studies show that Westerlund 1 is apparently subvirial and appears completely isolated, with hardly any massive star in its vicinity that could be associated with it in terms of distance modulus or radial velocity. The cluster halo does not extend much further than five parsec away from the centre. All these properties are very unusual among starburst clusters in the Local Universe, which tend to form in the context of large star-forming regions.

Keywords

open cluster and associations: Westerlund 1stars: formation
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 12 , Symposium S316: Formation, evolution, and survival of massive star clusters , August 2015 , pp. 159 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

References

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