The Formation and Evolution of Massive Stellar Clusters in IC 4662

We present a multiwavelength study of the formation of massive stellar clusters, their emergence from cocoons of gas and dust, and their feedback on surrounding matter. Using data that span from radio to optical wavelengths, including Spitzer and Hubble ACS observations, we examine the population of young star clusters in the central starburst region of the irregular Wolf-Rayet galaxy IC 4662. We model the radio-to-IR spectral energy distributions of embedded clusters to determine the properties of their HII regions and dust cocoons (sizes, masses, densities, temperatures), and use near-IR and optical data with mid-IR spectroscopy to constrain the properties of the embedded clusters themselves (mass, age, extinction, excitation, abundance). The two massive star-formation regions in IC 4662 are excited by stellar populations with ages of ~ 4 million years and masses of ~ 3 x 10^5 M_sun (assuming a Kroupa IMF). They have high excitation and sub-solar abundances, and they may actually be comprised of several massive clusters rather than the single monolithic massive compact objects known as Super Star Clusters (SSCs). Mid-IR spectra reveal that these clusters have very high extinctions, A_V ~ 20-25 mag, and that the dust in IC 4662 is well-mixed with the emitting gas, not in a foreground screen.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figures, to appear in proceedings of the conference "Young Massive Star Clusters: Initial Conditions and Environments ", held in Granada, Spain, September 200

RCW 49 at mid-infrared wavelengths: A glimpse from the Spitzer Space Telescope

The luminous, massive star formation region RCW 49, located in the southern Galactic plane, was imaged with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) program. The IRAC bands contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, and 8.6 μm, as well as the Brα line. These features are the major contributors to the diffuse emission from RCW 49 in the IRAC bands. The Spitzer IRAC images show that the dust in RCW 49 is distributed in a network of fine filaments, pillars, knots, sharply defined boundaries, bubbles, and bow shocks. The regions immediately surrounding the ionizing star cluster and W-R stars are evacuated of dust by stellar winds and radiation. The IRAC images of RCW 49 suggest that the dust in RCW 49 has been sculpted by the winds and radiation from the embedded luminous stars in the inner 5′ (inner ∼6 pc) of the nebula. At projected angular radii φ > 5′ from the central ionizing cluster, the azimuthally averaged infrared intensity falls off as ∼φ-3. Both high-resolution radio and mid-IR images suggest that the nebula is density bounded along its western boundary. The filamentary structure of the dust in RCW 49 suggests that the nebula has a small dust filling factor and, as a consequence, the entire nebula may be slightly density bounded to H-ionizing photons

Identification of main-sequence stars with mid-infrared excesses using glimpse: β pictoris analogs?

Spitzer IRAC 3.6-8 μm photometry obtained as part of the GLIMPSE survey has revealed mid-infrared excesses for 33 field stars with known spectral types in a 1.2 deg2 field centered on the southern Galactic H II region RCW 49. These stars comprise a subset of 184 stars with known spectral classification, most of which were preselected to have unusually red IR colors. We propose that the mid-IR excesses are caused by circumstellar dust disks that are either very late remnants of stellar formation or debris disks generated by planet formation. Of these 33 stars, 29 appear to be main-sequence stars on the basis of optical spectral classifications. Five of the 29 main-sequence stars are O or B stars with excesses that can be plausibly explained by thermal bremsstrahlung emission, and four are post-main-sequence stars. The lone O star is an O4 V((f)) at a spectrophotometric distance of 3233-535 +540 pc and may be the earliest member of the Westerlund 2 cluster. Of the remaining 24 main-sequence stars, 18 have spectral energy distributions that are consistent with hot dusty debris disks, a possible signature of planet formation. Modeling the excesses as blackbodies demonstrates that the blackbody components have fractional bolometric disk-to-star luminosity ratios, L IR/L*, ranging from 10-3 to 10-2 with temperatures ranging from 220 to 820 K. The inferred temperatures are more consistent with asteroid belts than with the cooler temperatures expected for Kuiper belts. Mid-IR excesses are found in all spectral types from late B to early K

Multiwavelength monitoring and reverberation mapping of a changing look event in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3516

We present the results of photometric and spectroscopic monitoring campaigns of the changing look AGN NGC 3516 carried out in 2018 to 2020 covering the wavelength range from the X-ray to the optical. The facilities included the telescopes of the CMO SAI MSU, the 2.3-m WIRO telescope, and the XRT and UVOT of Swift. We found that NGC 3516 brightened to a high state and could be classified as Sy1.5 during the late spring of 2020. We have measured time delays in the responses of the Balmer and He ii λ4686 lines to continuum variations. In the case of the best-characterized broad H β line, the delay to continuum variability is about 17 d in the blue wing and is clearly shorter, 9 d, in the red, which is suggestive of inflow. As the broad lines strengthened, the blue side came to dominate the Balmer lines, resulting in very asymmetric profiles with blueshifted peaks during this high state. During the outburst the X-ray flux reached its maximum on 2020 April 1 and it was the highest value ever observed for NGC 3516 by the Swift observatory. The X-ray hard photon index became softer, ∼1.8 in the maximum on 2020 April 21 compared to the mean ∼0.7 during earlier epochs before 2020. We have found that the UV and optical variations correlated well (with a small time delay of 1–2 d) with the X-ray until the beginning of 2020 April, but later, until the end of 2020 June, these variations were not correlated. We suggest that this fact may be a consequence of partial obscuration by Compton-thick clouds crossing the line of sight.</p

Ionized and neutral gas in the starburst galaxy NGC 5253

We present our main results of our analysis of the ionized and the neutral gas in the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 5253. The ionized gas of its nucleus was studied using VLT UVES data, lending the detection of the weak O and C recombination lines and the confirmation of a localized N (possibly also He) enrichment consequence of chemical pollution by Wolf-Rayet stars. The neutral gas was analyzed using new ATCA data from the LVHIS project and shows a very intriguing kinematics that could suggest that NGC 5253 has interacted with a dwarf gas-rich companion or the nearby M 83. 1 The starburst galaxy NGC 5253 The dwarf galaxy NGC 5253 lies at 4.0 Mpc [4] (at that distance, 1 ” ∼ 19 pc) and has an optical size of ∼ 5 ′ × 2 ′ , giving the appearance of a dwarf elliptical galaxy. Its starbursting nature is revealed using Hα filters [1, 12]: the galaxy shows a lot of ionized gas, including a filamentary structure that is extending perpendicular to its optical major axis. It is therefore classified as a blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxy, being one of the closest starbursts t

Multisite photometric campaign on the high-amplitude ? Scuti star KIC 6382916

We present results of a multisite photometric campaign on the high-amplitude ? Scuti star KIC 6382916 in the Kepler field. The starwas observed over a 85-d interval at five different sites in North America and Europe during 2011. Kepler photometry and ground-based multicolour light curves of KIC 6382916 are used to investigate the pulsational content and to identify the principal modes. High-dispersion spectroscopy was also obtained in order to derive the stellar parameters and projected rotational velocity. From an analysis of the Kepler time series, three independent frequencies and a few hundred combination frequencies are found. The light curve is dominated by two modes with frequencies f1 = 4.9107 and f2 = 6.4314 d-1. The third mode with f3 = 8.0350 d-1 has a much lower amplitude. We attempt mode identification by examining the amplitude ratios and phase differences in different wavebands from multicolour photometry and comparing them to calculations for different spherical harmonic degree, l. We find that the theoretical models for f1 and f2 are in a best agreement with the observations and lead to value of l = 1 modes, but the mode identification of f3 is uncertain due to its low amplitude. Non-adiabatic pulsation models show that frequencies below 6 d-1 are stable, which means that the low frequency of f1 cannot be reproduced. This is a further confirmation that current models predict a narrower pulsation frequency range than actually observed.2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society