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 81
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Avedisova, however, places RCW 81 in star formation region SFR 310.53+0.58 and notes that there is a molecular cloud in the same direction.
RCW 82
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Star formation is taking place in the ring that forms the outer surface of this nebula.
You can see the Spitzer infrared view here.
RCW 83
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The nebula can be seen as a bright rim at the edge of the dark cloud DCld 311.7-00.3.
According to the Georgelins, RCW 83 and RCW 85 are the brightest parts of a diffuse region to the galactic east of the Cen OB1 association and that may be an extension of it.
RCW 84
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RCW 85
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The infrared star group [DBS2003] 88 is embedded in RCW 85 according to Dutra and colleagues.
According to the Georgelins, RCW 83 and RCW 85 are the brightest parts of a diffuse region to the galactic east of the Cen OB1 association and that may be an extension of it.
RCW 86
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This region is much more visible in X-rays as this Chandra report shows, and may have been created by a supernova observed by Chinese astronomers in the year 185.
Curiously, SIMBAD has this "essential note" for RCW 86 : "Crescent-shaped HII region with a diameter about 3'. RCW 86 is frequently cross-identified with SNR G315.4-02.3 centered 40'NE; RCW 86 may be a part of the SNR or interacting with it. " However, there is no reference for this information and none of the recent sources I could find suggest that RCW 86 is anything more than a supernova remnant.
RCW 87
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According to a 1987 paper from the Georgelins, RCW 87, 88 and 89 are part of the same structure located at a distance of 3000-4000 pc, most likely closer to 3000 pc. RCW 87 and 88 are HII regions.
According to a 2006 paper, RCW 87 may contain one of the most massive young star clusters (10300 solar masses) known in the Milky Way. [BDB2003] G320.15+00.79 is about 20-25 million years old, has a distance of 7600 parsecs, and its brightest members have evolved into red supergiants.
According to one 2011 paper, RCW 87 is much closer at 1230 pc. A second 2011 paper gives a 2700 pc kinematic estimate.
RCW 87 appears to be immersed in a larger diffuse nebula that includes IRAS 14597-5728, sometimes called the Black Widow nebula because of its appearance in infrared. However, Avedisova places IRAS 14597-5728 in a separate star formation region.
You can see the full extent of RCW 87 in this Spitzer infrared image.
RCW 88
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The Georgelins, on the other hand, conclude that RCW 87, 88 and 89 are part of the same structure located at a distance of 3000-4000 pc, most likely closer to 3000 pc.
RCW 88 is located towards the edge of a much larger complex visible in infrared, as can be seen in this Spitzer space telescope image. The distance estimates given by Caswell and Haynes for the other objects in this complex imply that it may lie at a distance of less than 1000 parsecs, however, so RCW 88 may lie in the background.
The ESO released a good visible light image of RCW 88 in 2012.
RCW 89
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The RCW catalog describes this as a faint 4x4 arcminute nebula and the exact coordinates of the object appear to be the same as the radio HII region [KC97c] G320.4-01.1.
More recent sensitive studies such as the SHASSA hydrogen-alpha survey show that this nebula is next to and possibly part of a far larger region of emission centred on the extended star cluster / OB association Pismis 20.
SIMBAD identifies RCW 89 with the young supernova remnant SNR 320.4-01.0, and certainly emission from this supernova remnant dominates the nebula as the filaments in the image here show. A 2005 study gives a distance 5200 +/- 1400 parsecs and an age for the central pulsar of 1700 years.
Humphreys gives a distance of 3980 parsecs for Pismis 20 and lists 6 ionising stars, including the O 9.5 I supergiant Pismis 20 #11. SIMBAD lists several other hot stars in the same direction, including the O 8.5 I supergiant Pismis 20 #2, the O9 III giant Pismis 20 #9 and the Wolf-Rayet star WR 67.
A 1988 paper suggests that SNR 320.4-01.0 may be part of Pismis 20 and the currently available distance estimates seem to make this a possibility. Another possibility is that we are looking at two objects in this direction, with a large faint diffuse nebula surrounding Pismis 20 in the Centaurus arm and the brighter more distant SNR 320.4-01.0 located in the 3Kpc arm or perhaps the galactic bar region.
The Georgelins conclude that RCW 87, 88 and 89 are part of the same structure located at a distance of 3000-4000 pc, most likely closer to 3000 pc.
You can see a spectacular recent Chandra x-ray image of the pulsar wind nebula within the supernova remnant, often called the "Hand nebula", here. You can see the full extent of the nebula surrounding Pismis 20 in this false colour hydrogen-alpha image.
RCW 90
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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.