Westerlund 1: A super star cluster in the Milky Way

Details Westerlund 1: A super star cluster in the Milky Way Westerlund 1: A super star cluster in the Milky Way

May 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005assl..329p..13c&link_type=abstract

Starbursts: From 30 Doradus to Lyman Break Galaxies, Held in Cambridge, UK, 6-10 September 2004. Edited by R. de Grijs and R.M.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

We present optical and IR photometric and spectroscopic observations of the young open cluster Westerlund 1 that indicate it is the first Super Star Cluster identified in the Milky Way. Wd1 hosts a rich population of OB supergiants, Wolf-Rayet stars, Luminous Blue Variables, Yellow Hypergiants and Red Supergiants, from which we infer an age of 3-5 Myr. For an adopted Kroupa IMF we derive a mass of 105 M&sun; and radius of 0.3 pc for an estimated distance of 2.5 kpc. As such, Wd1 is the most massive, and densest, young cluster in the Local Group, exceeding NGC 3603 and the Arches cluster in the Milky Way and R136 in the LMC.

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