Lynx Arc

Lynx Arc
artist impression of the Lynx Arc
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
Constellation	Lynx
Right ascension	08^h 48^m 48.76^s
Declination	+44° 55′ 49.6″
Distance	12 billion ly
Physical characteristics
Notable features	Hottest known star-birthing region.

The Lynx Arc was discovered in 2003 and is considered to be the hottest known star-birthing region in the Universe as of October 2003. It is located at 08^h 48^m 48.76^s +44° 55′ 49.6″.

It is located in the constellation Lynx, 12 billion light years away (z=3.357^[1]) from Earth, 8 million times farther away and one million times brighter than the Orion Nebula. It contains about 1 million blue stars, while the Orion Nebula only contains 4.^[2]

The Lynx Arc was found in a systematic search around galaxy cluster RX J0848+4456 (z=0.570),^[1] with the help of a gravitational lens, a 4.5 billion light years distant galaxy cluster (CL J0848.8+4455 lying at z=0.543^[2]). Amongst others the Keck Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope and ROSAT participated in the search.

Located behind a cluster of galaxies in northern Constellation Lynx around 12 billion light-years (ly) away, the Lynx Arc is a distant supercluster of extremely hot, young stars. Roughly one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, the Lynx Arc contains a million blue stars that are twice as hot as similar stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Only visible through gravitational lensing by a closer cluster of galaxies, the Arc is a feature of the early days of the universe, when "furious firestorms of star birth" were more common. It may be going through a short-lived luminous phase that may have lasted for as little as a few million years (Fosbury et al., 2003, in pdf).

The surface temperature of the stars in the Lynx Arc is estimated to be around 80000 K, about twice as hot as stars in our neighborhood. Only the stars formed directly after the Big Bang (Population III stars) are considered to be hotter (around 120000 K). The universe was only 2 billion years old at the time at which we are observing the Lynx Arc. The first stars were born 1.8 billion years before the Lynx Arc.

References

1 2 R. A. E. Fosbury et al. (2003 October 20) "Massive Star Formation in a Gravitationally Lensed H II Galaxy at z = 3.357", The Astrophysical Journal, 596:797-809
1 2 Sol Station, Lynx Arc (accessed 2009 September 15)

External links

Stars of Lynx

Stars in italics have designations from another constellation

Stars (list)

Bayer	α ψ¹⁰ Aur

Flamsteed	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 38 42 43 44 Cam 45 Cam 46 Cam 48 Cam 50 Cam 52 Cam 54 Cam 5 LMi 10 UMa 19 UMa

Variable	R T U Y RR SW SZ TT TV TZ UU UV UY AN BE BF BH BK CC CY DD DI DU

HR	2463 2486 2561 2642 2645 2721 2737 2751 2776 2804 2844 2894 2903 2914 2915 2935 2939 3028 3039 3094 3106 3130 3175 3181 3200 3246 3258 3277 3287 3292 3309 3348 3351 3360 3509 3511 3545 3546 3580 3586 3612 3625 3686 3701 3809

HD	44061 52859 58681 59721 59826 63588 63630 65392 67539 75898

Gliese	Gliese 277 GJ 1105 GJ 3421

Other	GD 98 HS 0702+6043 IRC +60169 PG 0859+415 WASP-13 XO-2 XO-4 XO-5

Other

Lynx Arc

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