A Smoking Gun in the Carina Nebula

Abstract

The Carina Nebula is one of the youngest, most active sites of massive star formation in our Galaxy. In this nebula, we have discovered a bright X-ray source that has persisted for ~30 years. The soft X-ray spectrum, consistent with kT ~128 eV blackbody radiation with mild extinction, and no counterpart in the near- and mid-infrared wavelengths indicate that it is a ~1e6-year-old neutron star housed in the Carina Nebula. Current star formation theory does not suggest that the progenitor of the neutron star and massive stars in the Carina Nebula, in particular Eta Carinae, are coeval. This result suggests that the Carina Nebula experienced at least two major episodes of massive star formation. The neutron star may be responsible for remnants of high energy activity seen in multiple wavelengths.

9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication to ApJL

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• An Introduction to the Chandra Carina Complex Project
• Overview of the Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-ray (MYStIX) Project
• A Catalog of Chandra X-ray Sources in the Carina Nebula
• Fermi Large Area Telescope Observation of a Gamma-ray Source at the Position of Eta Carinae
• HST/ACS H-alpha Imaging of the Carina Nebula: Outflow Activity Traced by Irradiated Herbig-Haro Jets
• X-ray Star Clusters in the Carina Complex
• The Integrated Diffuse X-ray Emission of the Carina Nebula Compared to Other Massive Star-forming Regions
• A Multiwavelength Look at Galactic Massive Star Forming Regions
• The Chandra Carina Complex Project: Deciphering the Enigma of Carina's Diffuse X-ray Emission
• A Chandra ACIS Study of the Young Star Cluster Trumpler 15 in Carina and Correlation with Near-infrared Sources
• A Survey of Irradiated Pillars, Globules, and Jets in the Carina Nebul
• H.E.S.S. observations of the Carina nebula and its enigmatic colliding wind binary Eta Carinae
• The peculiar isolated neutron star in the Carina Nebula - Deep XMM-Newton and ESO-VLT observations of 2XMM J104608.7-594306
• Illuminating a tadpole's metamorphosis III: quantifying past and present environmental impact
• The Mysterious Sickle Object in the Carina Nebula: A stellar wind induced bow shock grazing a clump?
• Suzaku Observation of Diffuse X-Ray Emission from a Southwest Region of the Carina Nebula