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 61
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According to Avedisova, RCW 61 is ionised by three O9 giant stars: HD 100099 (O9 III), CD -62 535 (O9 II) and HD 100444 (O9 II), as well as three B-class stars. (SIMBAD reports that CD -62 535 and HD 100444 are the same star.)
She places RCW 60, RCW 61, RCW 62, Gum 39, Gum 40, Gum 41, Gum 42, and IC 2944 in star formation region SFR 293.64-1.41 with 51 components, including 7 masers and 18 infrared sources. Humphreys says that the hot stars in this direction form the Cru OB1 association at an average distance of 2510 parsecs.
RCW 62
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According to Avedisova, the nebula is ionised by the O6 III giant HD 101190, the O6 V star HD 101436 and the O9 IV subgiant HD 101223 as well as the B0.5 Iab supergiant HD 101545. (SIMBAD gives a much cooler B6Ib/II class for HD 101436.)
A 2013 study finds that the X-ray sources in this direction are concentrated around the O8 V star HD 101205 suggesting that this star may also be associated with the nebula.
Avedisova places RCW 60, RCW 61, RCW 62, Gum 39, Gum 40, Gum 41, Gum 42, and IC 2944 in star formation region SFR 293.64-1.41 with 51 components, including 7 masers and 18 infrared sources. Humphreys says that the hot stars in this direction form the Cru OB1 association at an average distance of 2510 parsecs.
Dutra and colleagues say that RCW 62 contains the infrared group [DBS2003] 69, although curiously they give a distance of only 1700 parsecs.
You can see the spectacular MSX 8μm infrared view here.
Some astronomers misleadingly call this the Lambda Centaurus nebula. Lambda Centaurus is the bright star in the upper right of the image, however, it is a foreground star at a distance of only 63 pc.
RCW 63
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However, this emission band can indeed be seen in this false colour hydrogen-alpha image next to the supernova remnant SNR G296.5+10.0.
RCW 64
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In a 1997 paper, Russeil speculates that RCW 64 may be part of a spur connecting the Carina arc and the Scutum-Crux (Centaurus) arm. She suggests an association with a specific Grabelsky molecular cloud, but curiously, Grabelsky lists no cloud with the position and velocity cited by Russeil. She also notes that the 5370 parsec distance estimate was given in Brand's 1986 PhD thesis and is based on his observation of ionising stars for RCW 64. Brand's thesis does not seem to be available online, although he gives the same distance estimate in a 1993 paper. I'll add more details on the ionising stars once I can track that down.
RCW 64 can be seen in this Spitzer infrared image floating to the left of a giant HII region and enormous nebular complex (including [GSL2002] 29) that is obscured at visual frequencies.
RCW 65
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The infrared cluster [DBS2003] 77 is embedded in RCW 65. The nebula appears to be next to or part of a much larger nebula visible in infrared as can be seen in this MSX image.
The RCW catalog identifies RCW 65 with Gum 43.
RCW 66 and RCW 67 appear to have a similar distance and direction as RCW 65.
RCW 66
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Dutra et,al conclude that RCW 66 includes the infrared cluster [DBS2003] 78.
RCW 66 and RCW 67 are prominent at radio frequencies and are located next to a nebula prominent in infrared.
RCW 66 and RCW 67 appear to have a similar distance and direction as RCW 65.
RCW 67
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RCW 66 and RCW 67 are prominent at radio frequencies and are located next to a nebula prominent in infrared.
RCW 66 and RCW 67 appear to have a similar distance and direction as RCW 65.
RCW 68
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RCW 68 is the brightest part of a large emission ring about 1 degree in diameter. The true nature and full extent of this nebula is much better revealed in infrared, as you can see in this MSX image or this (unfortunately truncated) Spitzer image.
RCW 69
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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.