Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Ara (Ara)
Westerlund 1, Lawrence E. Hazel
Westerlund 1
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Westerlund 1

Westerlund 1, Lawrence E. Hazel
Westerlund 1
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Westerlund 1

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Description

Westerlund 1 (also called Ara Cluster, designated Wd1) is a compact young super star cluster in the Milky Way galaxy, about 3.5–5 kpc away from Earth. It is one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way,[3] and was discovered by Bengt Westerlund in 1961 but remained largely unstudied for many years due to high interstellar absorption in its direction. In the future, it will probably evolve into a globular cluster.[6] The cluster contains a large number of rare, evolved, high-mass stars, including: 6 yellow hypergiants, 4 red supergiants including Westerlund 1-26, one of the largest known stars, 24 Wolf-Rayet stars, a luminous blue variable, many OB supergiants, and an unusual supergiant sgB[e] star which has been proposed to be the remnant of a recent stellar merger Westerlund 1 is believed to have formed in a single burst of star formation, implying the constituent stars have similar ages and compositions.

From Wilkpedia

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