PISMIS 24-1: THE BIGGEST LOSER
Pismis 24-1 is the designation of a bright young star in the open cluster Pismis 24. Pismis 24-1 was originally thought to have an extremely large mass (200 to 300 times the mass of the Sun), but NASA/ESA Hubble observations discovered that Pismis 24-1 was actually two stars. These observations mean that the stars are slightly slimmer, at around 100 Solar masses.
Pismis 24 (top of image) is an open star cluster that is associated with an emission nebula (NGC 6357, bottom of image). Part of the nebula is ionised by the youngest, heaviest, stars in Pismis 24 (these are the bluest stars). Intense UV light that is emitted from the stars acts to heat the surrounding gas and make bubbles in NGC 6357.
NGC 6357 is about 400 light years across and is located within our Galaxy, the Milky Way, about 8,000 light years away from the Sun.
-CJ
Further Reading: 1, 2
Image Credit:
NASA, ESA and J. M. Apellániz (IAA, Spain)
