Spatio-temporal progression of star formation in the Carina OB1 association
Abstract
The Carina OB1 association, harboring the famous Carina Nebula near its center, is the most massive, well-studied OB association in our Galaxy. Containing several massive star clusters with different ages, it shows a complex spatio-temporal structure. We explore the formation history and kinematic evolution of the eight most massive clusters in Car OB1. We determine the cluster ages, stellar populations, the initial massive star content, and the number of supernova explosions since the time of each cluster's formation. Using Gaia DR3 astrometry, we determine the 3D configuration of the association and perform a traceback analysis of the cluster positions over the last 13 Myr. The traceback analysis places the birth location of the oldest (13 Myr) cluster, NGC 3293, in the Carina spiral arm. Approximately four Myr later, a series of 11 supernova explosions started in NGC 3293. We construct a possible scenario in which the expanding bubble driven by these supernova explosions interacted with the southern part of the original cloud complex and led to the sequential formation of the younger clusters in the central Carina Nebula. Our scenario suggests that the sequence of 16+/-4 supernova explosions in the association during the last 10 Myr played an important role in creating the massive clusters in Car OB1. However, the supernova feedback does not dominate the large-scale expansion of the association; the general expansion rather seems to reflect the initial kinematics of the original unbound cloud complex.
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BibTeX
@misc{goppl2026spatiotemporal,
title = {{Spatio-temporal progression of star formation in the Carina OB1 association}},
author = {C. Göppl and T. Preibisch},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.05192},
eprint = {2610.05192},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05192},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spatio-temporal progression of star formation in the Carina OB1 association
AU - C. Göppl
AU - T. Preibisch
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.05192
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05192
AB - The Carina OB1 association, harboring the famous Carina Nebula near its center, is the most massive, well-studied OB association in our Galaxy. Containing several massive star clusters with different ages, it shows a complex spatio-temporal structure. We explore the formation history and kinematic evolution of the eight most massive clusters in Car OB1. We determine the cluster ages, stellar populations, the initial massive star content, and the number of supernova explosions since the time of each cluster's formation. Using Gaia DR3 astrometry, we determine the 3D configuration of the association and perform a traceback analysis of the cluster positions over the last 13 Myr. The traceback analysis places the birth location of the oldest (13 Myr) cluster, NGC 3293, in the Carina spiral arm. Approximately four Myr later, a series of 11 supernova explosions started in NGC 3293. We construct a possible scenario in which the expanding bubble driven by these supernova explosions interacted with the southern part of the original cloud complex and led to the sequential formation of the younger clusters in the central Carina Nebula. Our scenario suggests that the sequence of 16+/-4 supernova explosions in the association during the last 10 Myr played an important role in creating the massive clusters in Car OB1. However, the supernova feedback does not dominate the large-scale expansion of the association; the general expansion rather seems to reflect the initial kinematics of the original unbound cloud complex.
ER -