Description: Several of the stars in Westerlund 1 have the mass of about 40 suns, which means that they will race through their evolution and form neutron stars or black holes in a few million years. A search of the cluster with Chandra found no evidence of black holes. However, astronomers did find a neutron star (CXO J164710.2-455216). Because extremely massive stars evolve more rapidly than less massive ones, and the progenitor of the neutron star has already exploded as a supernova, it must have had a mass greater than 40 suns. This discovery may severely limit the range of stellar masses that lead to the formation of stellar black holes.

Creator/Photographer: Chandra X-ray Observatory

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Medium: Chandra telescope x-ray

Date: 2005

Persistent URL: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/wd1/

Repository: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Gift line: NASA/CXC/UCLA/M.Muno et al.