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Gum nebula - central region

Submitted by Kevin Jardine on 24 June, 2007 - 22:08

Hover your mouse over each blue dot for the name of the object, or click on the dot for a detail page. This map was created using the all-sky hydrogen-alpha map produced by Douglas Finkbeiner from data collected by the WHAM, VTSS and SHASSA hydrogen-alpha surveys.

Two nebulae in this image appear to be embedded in the Gum nebula. These are the Vela supernova remnant (Gum 16), which is actually the huge bubble in the main image of the Gum nebula, and RCW 33, which appears to be ionised by the star cluster Trumpler 10 (although some sources associate RCW 33 with the region around RCW 27 mentioned below instead).

The other objects in the image are located in the Vela molecular ridge, which extends for thousands of parsecs beyond the Gum nebula into the outer galaxy.

The prominent nebula in the middle of the image is RCW 27, which is ionised by the O9 III subgiant HD 73882 and associated with Vela Molecular Ridge clouds C, D and a complex of reflection nebula called Puppis R2 (including NGC 2626) at a distance of 1000 parsecs. Nearby but perhaps a bit closer is RCW 32, which is probably ionised by the B star HD 74804, the brightest member of the star cluster Collinder 197. RCW 23, RCW 25 and RCW 26 are all listed nearby in the RCW catalog but none of these objects appear to show any visible nebulosity or have distance estimates in the scientific literature. RCW 24 is also in the same field with visible nebulosity and has an unknown distance (but is close in the sky to the molecular cloud [MAB97] 258.50-1.50 which lies at a distant 7700 parsecs). You can read a good overview of this region here.

Note: This paper concludes that Vela molecular clouds A, C, and D are part of the same molecular cloud complex at 700 +/-200 parsecs and Vela cloud B is at 2000 parsecs.

South of the RCW 27 region is a group of nebulae that are all part of the supernova remnant Puppis A (SNR 260.4-03.4) at 2200 parsecs. These include RCW 28, RCW 29, RCW 30 and RCW 31.

Sh 2-288
Sh 2-289
Sh 2-300
Sh 2-303
Sh 2-301
Sh 2-307
Sh 2-306
Sh 2-302
Sh 2-304
Sh 2-305
Sh 2-279
Sh 2-278
Sh 2-275
Sh 2-277
Sh 2-273
RCW 27
RCW 19
RCW 20
RCW 24
BFS55
BFS53
RCW 30
RCW 29
RCW 28
RCW 31
RCW 41
BFS57
BFS54
RCW 25
Gum 12
BFS60
BFS62
BFS61
BFS64
BFS63
Sh 2-291
Sh 2-292
Sh 2-293
Sh 2-294
Sh 2-295
Sh 2-296
Sh 2-297
Gum 21
RCW 34
RCW 39
RCW 33
Sh 2-310
Sh 2-287
Sh 2-286
Sh 2-285
Sh 2-284
Sh 2-283
Sh 2-282
Sh 2-281
Sh 2-280
Sh 2-308
Sh 2-309
Sh 2-299
Sh 2-298
RCW 37
RCW 38
RCW 32
RCW 36
RCW 27
RCW 18
RCW 17
RCW 26
Sh 2-311
RCW 23
Sh 2-276
RCW 14
IC 2177
RCW 21
RCW 4
BFS56
BFS59
BFS58
RCW 35
RCW 40
Gum 16