The Massive Stars in Westerlund 1

Explanation: Star cluster Westerlund 1 is home to some of the largest and most massive stars known. It is headlined by the star Westerlund 1-26 , a red supergiant star so big that if placed in the center of our Solar System , it would extend out past the orbit of Jupiter . Additionally, the young star cluster is home to 3 other red supergiants , 6 yellow hypergiant stars, 24 Wolf-Rayet stars, and several even-more unusual stars that continue to be studied. Westerlund 1 is relatively close-by for a star cluster at a distance of 15,000 light years , giving astronomers a good laboratory to study the development of massive stars. The featured image of Westerlund 1 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope toward the southern constellation of the Altar (Ara). Although presently classified as a “super” open cluster , Westerlund 1 may evolve into a low mass globular cluster over the next billion years.

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