The Gum Catalog
Click on the small images to see larger ones.
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[ 1 | 11 | 21 | 31 | 41 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 81 ]Gum 21
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Gum 22
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Gum 23
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Gum 24
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Avedisova places RCW 39 in star formation region 269.11-1.08 along with Gum 12a, three masers and the multiple Wolf-Rayet star gamma Velorum. If these associations are correct, RCW 39 is a fairly local object and not at a large distance of 3000 pc as other estimates suggest.
RCW 39 is prominent in infrared, as can be seen in this MSX 8μm image, as well as at radio frequencies as this Parkes image shows.
Gum 25
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This MSX infrared image reveals a spectacular bubble structure. This 2MASS infrared image strips away the dust surrounding this nebula and shows the central star cluster.
Both SIMBAD and the RCW catalog identify RCW 40 and Gum 25 and I have kept that identification here given the limited accuracy of Gum's coordinates. However, there is an unusually large distance between the two sets of coordinates suggesting the possibility that they are distinct.
Gum 26
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There is surprisingly little in the scientific literature concerning this object given that its status as a giant HII region suggests that it is one of the greatest regions of star formation in the Milky Way. You can see it in this MSX infrared image and in this visible light image..
Gum 27
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Gum 28
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There seems to be confusion about the identification of Bran 300B and Bran 300C. SIMBAD identifies Bran 300B with the star cluster NGC 3247, which Avedisova places in a separate star formation region with RCW 49. SIMBAD identifies Bran 300C with RCW 50, which Avedisova places in a third star formation region separate from either RCW 48 or RCW 49.
You can see a good image of NGC 3199 on the Astronomy Picture of the day website.
Gum 29
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Avedisova places this nebula in star formation region SFR 284.22-0.30 along with 4 masers, the smaller nebulae Hoffleit 5, Hoffleit 8 and Hoffleit 11 and the star cluster NGC 3247, which SIMBAD associates with the nebula Bran 300B.
Spectacular views of this region in infrared can be found here and in X-rays here.
Gum 30
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Kharchenko lists 16 ionising B-class stars as probable members, the hottest of which is the B0 Ia supergiant HD 91969. She gives a distance of 2471 parsecs and an age of 8.7 million years. The entire complex lies near the Car OB1 association.
I've sometimes referred to this striking cluster/nebula combination as the Eye of Horus. You can view a more detailed image of the cluster here.
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Colin Gum, working at Australia's Mount Stromlo observatory in 1951, completed the first major survey of HII regions visible in the southern hemisphere. He published his nebula catalog in 1955. Although Gum's catalog was largely superceded by the RCW catalog published in 1960, many HII regions are still referenced by their Gum numbers even today, so these pages provide an easy reference with cross references to the RCW and Sharpless catalogs.
Most of the images used to illustrate the Gum catalog were created using the
SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey, with red = hydrogen-alpha,
blue = UKST Blue and green = UKST Infrared. Because green represents infrared, the images are not quite
the same as would be seen at purely visual frequencies. Green in these images usually reveals warm dust or red giant stars.
These images were created using the POSS-II/UKSTU data of the
Digitized Sky Survey and
SuperCOSMOS
using the process described here.
According to my correspondence with the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and the Space Telescope Science Institute,
I am allowed to use the POSS-II/UKSTU data to
create and display images for non-commercial purposes
so long as I include this fine print for the SuperCOSMOS data:
Use of these images is courtesy of the UK Schmidt Telescope (copyright in
which is owned by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of
the UK and the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board) and the Southern Sky Survey
as created by the SuperCOSMOS measuring machine and are reproduced here
with permission from the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
and this acknowledgement taken from the DSS site:
The Digitized Sky Surveys were produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under
U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic
data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope.
The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions.
The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-II) was made by the
California Institute of Technology with funds from the National Science Foundation,
the National Geographic Society, the Sloan Foundation, the Samuel Oschin Foundation,
and the Eastman Kodak Corporation.
The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh,
with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council
(later the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council), until 1988 June,
and thereafter by the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The blue plates of the southern Sky Atlas
and its Equatorial Extension (together known as the SERC-J), as well as the Equatorial Red (ER),
and the Second Epoch [red] Survey (SES) were all taken with the UK Schmidt.
The "Second Epoch Survey" of the southern sky was made by the
Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) with the UK Schmidt Telescope.
Plates from this survey have been digitized and compressed by the ST ScI.
The digitized images are copyright © 1993-5 by the Anglo-Australian Observatory Board,
and are distributed herein by agreement.
The "Equatorial Red Atlas" of the southern sky was made with the UK Schmidt Telescope.
Plates from this survey have been digitized and compressed by the ST ScI.
The digitized images are copyright © 1992-5, jointly by the UK SERC/PPARC
(Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council,
formerly Science and Engineering Research Council) and the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board,
and are distributed herein by agreement.
The compressed files of the "Palomar Observatory - Space Telescope Science Institute Digital Sky Survey"
of the northern sky, based on scans of the Second Palomar Sky Survey are copyright © 1993-1995 by the
California Institute of Technology and are distributed herein by agreement.
The compressed files of the "Palomar Observatory - Space Telescope Science Institute Digital Sky Survey"
of the northern sky, based on scans of the Second Palomar Sky Survey are copyright © 1993-1995
by the California Institute of Technology and are distributed herein by agreement.