Lynx Arc
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| Lynx Arc | |
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| Observation data (J2000 epoch) | |
| Constellation | Lynx |
| Right ascension | 08h 48m 48.76s |
| Declination | +44° 55′ 49.6″ |
| Distance | 12 billion ly |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Notable features | Hottest known star-birthing region. |
| See also: Open cluster, List of open clusters | |
The Lynx Arc was discovered in 2003 and is considered to be the hottest known star-birthing region in the Universe as of October 2003. It is located at 08h 48m 48.76s +44° 55′ 49.6″.
It is located in the constellation Lynx, 12 billion light years away (z=3.357[1]) from earth, 8 million times farther away and one million times brighter than the Orion Nebula. It contains about 1 million blue stars, while the Orion Nebula only contains 4.[2]
The Lynx Arc was found in a systematic search around galaxy cluster RX J0848+4456 (z=0.570),[1] with the help of a gravitational lens, a 4.5 billion light years distant galaxy cluster (CL J0848.8+4455 lying at z=0.543[2]). Amongst others the Keck Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and ROSAT participated in the search.
Located behind a cluster of galaxies in northern Constellation Lynx around 12 billion light-years (ly) away, the Lynx Arc is a distant supercluster of extremely hot, young stars. Roughly one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, the Lynx Arc contains a million blue stars that are twice as hot as similar stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Only visible through gravitational lensing by a closer cluster of galaxies, the Arc is a feature of the early days of the universe, when "furious firestorms of star birth" were more common. It may be going through a short-lived luminous phase that may have lasted for as little as a few million years (Fosbury et al, 2003, in pdf).
The surface temperature of the stars in the Lynx Arc is estimated to be around 80000°K, about twice as hot as stars in our neighborhood. Only the stars formed directly after the Big Bang (Population III stars) are considered to be hotter (around 120000°K). The universe was only 2 billion years old at the time at which we are observing the Lynx Arc. The first stars were born 1.8 billion years before the Lynx Arc.
[edit] References
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