The RCW Catalog
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[ 1 | 11 | 21 | 31 | 41 | 51 | 61 | 71 | 81 | 91 | 101 | 111 | 121 | 131 | 141 | 151 | 161 | 171 | 181 ]RCW 41
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Avedisova places RCW 41 in star formation region SFR 270.26+0.80 along with 2 masers and IRAS 09149-4743.
You can see RCW 41 in this infrared MSX image here.
RCW 42
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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..
RCW 43
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RCW 45
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Avedisova places RCW 45 in the star formation region SFR 282.13-0.11 with the star cluster Loden 27.
Grabelsky associates RCW 45, RCW 47 and possibly RCW 46 with the 225 thousand solar mass molecular cloud [GCB88] 3.
According to a third source, RCW 45 and RCW 46 lie at the eastern edge of the chimney GSH 277+0+36. The chimney is at a distance of about 6500 pc on the outer edge of the Carina arc, is more than 600 pc in diameter, and extends at least 1000 pc above and below the Galactic midplane.
One argument in favour of RCW 45 being a dimmer closer object rather than a brighter further object is its dimness in infrared as this MSX image shows.
RCW 46
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Avedisova concludes that RCW 46 is ionised the O8 V class CP -56 2853 and 3 B-class stars at a distance of 1880 +/- 210 parsecs. She places it in star formation region SFR 282.32-1.33 along with the reflection nebula Bran 288. (According to a 1989 paper by Stark and Brand, Bran 288 has a distance of 1970 +/- 400 parsecs so this is consistent with the Avedisova information.)
Grabelsky associates RCW 45, RCW 47 and possibly RCW 46 with the 225 thousand solar mass molecular cloud [GCB88] 3 at a distance of 3200 parsecs.
According to a third source, RCW 45 and RCW 46 lie at the eastern edge of the chimney GSH 277+0+36. The chimney is at a distance of about 6500 pc on the outer edge of the Carina arc, is more than 600 pc in diameter, and extends at least 1000 pc above and below the Galactic midplane.
RCW 46 is located just below a huge cavity visible in infrared as can be seen in this MSX image, but little infrared emission is visible in the direction of RCW 46 itself. You can also see another infrared image of RCW 46 taken by 2MASS, which shows the infrared star group [DBS2003] 42 at its centre.
RCW 47
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Stark and Brand give a very uncertain distance of 2820 +/- 1050 parsecs for Bran 285.
According to Grabelsky, RCW 47 is embedded in the 100 pc diameter giant molecular cloud [GCB88] 3 at 3200 parsecs.
These distance estimates are all compatible and suggest a location at the outer edge of the Carina arc. There is little or no trace of this nebula in infrared as can be seen in this MSX image (although HD 87643 shows faint surrounding infrared nebulosity to the galactic northwest). Curiously, however, it is fairly prominent at radio frequencies.
RCW 48
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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.
RCW 49
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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.
RCW 50
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You can view RCW 48, RCW 49 and RCW 50 as well as nearby smaller nebulae together in this SuperCOSMOS hydrogen-alpha image.
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Alex Rodgers, Colin Campbell, and John Whiteoak, working at Australia's Mount Stromlo observatory under the direction of Dutch-American astronomer Bart Bok, published their nebula catalog in 1960. The RCW catalog is largely an expansion of Colin Gum's 1955 catalog. Although astronomers publish articles referring to the RCW nebulae almost every month, there seems to be few places on the Internet that bring together information on these nebulae as a whole - unlike, for example, the Messier catalog. This is most likely because the Messier objects are visible to anyone with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope. Most of the RCW objects are clearly visible only in long exposure CCD images or photographic plates taken by large telescopes. Fortunately some of these plates have now been digitally scanned and made publicly available.
Many of the brightest and most beautiful Milky Way star formation regions visible from the southern hemisphere are in the RCW catalog so the 182 objects it contains are well worth examining carefully. (In fact there are more than 182 objects as subsequent research has shown that some of the RCW nebulae consist of more than one object.) At least 50 objects in the RCW catalog are also in the Sharpless catalog and I have noted this in the descriptions of these objects.
Most of the images used to illustrate the RCW 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.