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Post Info TOPIC: Trumpler 15
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Nearby supernovas may aid in understanding of star lifecycles

According to a wealth of new data from NASA's X-ray Observatory, what scientists are calling a "supernova factory" has come to life in the Carnia Nebula, located a mere 7,500 light years from Earth. This discovery may help astronomers to better understand how some of the Milky Way Galaxy's heaviest and youngest stars race through their lives and release newly-forged elements into their surroundings.
It appears that some of the massive stars in Trumpler 15, a star cluster in Carina, already have been destroyed in supernova explosions. These explosions would explain the deficit of bright X-ray sources in Trumpler 15, one of the ten star clusters that make up the Carina complex. The discovery is being presented today at the 218th American Astronomical Society meeting in Boston, and it will be published in a special Astrophysical Journal Supplement issue devoted to the new Chandra observations of Carina.
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Title: A Chandra ACIS Study of the Young Star Cluster Trumpler 15 in Carina and Correlation with Near-infrared Sources
Authors: Junfeng Wang, Eric D. Feigelson, Leisa K. Townsley, Patrick S. Broos, Konstantin V. Getman, Scott J. Wolk, Thomas Preibisch, Keivan G. Stassun, Anthony F. J. Moffat, Gordon Garmire, Robert R. King, Mark J. McCaughrean, Hans Zinnecker

Using the highest-resolution X-ray observation of the Trumpler 15 star cluster taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we estimate the total size of its stellar population by comparing the X-ray luminosity function of the detected sources to a calibrator cluster, and identify for the first time a significant fraction (~14%) of its individual members. The highest-resolution near-IR observation of Trumpler 15 (taken by the HAWK-I instrument on the VLT) was found to detect most of our X-ray selected sample of cluster members, with a K-excess disk frequency of 3.8±0.7%. The near-IR data, X-ray luminosity function, and published spectral types of the brightest members support a cluster age estimate (5-10 Myr) that is older than those for the nearby Trumpler 14 and Trumpler 16 clusters, and suggest that high-mass members may have already exploded as supernovae. The morphology of the inner ~0.7 pc core of the cluster is found to be spherical. However, the outer regions (beyond 2 pc) are elongated, forming an 'envelope' of stars that, in projection, appears to connect Trumpler 15 to Trumpler 14; this morphology supports the view that these clusters are physically associated. Clear evidence of mass segregation is seen. This study appears in a Special Issue of the ApJS devoted to the Chandra Carina Complex Project (CCCP), a 1.42 square degree Chandra X-ray survey of the Great Nebula in Carina.

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