A new spectral classification system for the earliest O stars: definition of type O2

High-quality, blue-violet spectroscopic data are collected for 24 stars that have been classified as type O3 and that display the hallmark N IV and N V lines. A new member of the class is presented; it is the second known in the Cyg OB2 association, and only the second in the northern hemisphere. New digital data are also presented for several of the other stars. Although the data are inhomogeneous, the uniform plots by subcategory reveal some interesting new relationships. Several issues concerning the classification of the hottest O-type spectra are discussed, and new digital data are presented for the five original O3 dwarfs in the Carina Nebula, in which the N IV, N V features are very weak or absent. New spectral types O2 and O3.5 are introduced here as steps toward resolving these issues. The relationship between the derived absolute visual magnitudes and the spectroscopic luminosity classes of the O2–O3 stars shows more scatter than at later O types, at least partly because some overluminous dwarfs are unresolved multiple systems, and some close binary systems of relatively low luminosity and mass emulate O3 supergiant spectra. However, it also appears that the behavior of He II λ4686, the primary luminosity criterion at later O types, responds to other phenomena in addition to luminosity at spectral types O2–O3. There is evidence that these spectral types may correspond to an immediate pre-WN phase, with a correspondingly large range of luminosities and masses. A complete census of spectra classified into the original O3 subcategories considered here (not including intermediate O3/WN types or O3 dwarfs without N IV, N V features) totals 45 stars; 34 of them belong to the Large Magellanic Cloud and 20 of the latter to 30 Doradus

Spectroscopic Study of the Long-Period Dust-Producing WC7pd+O9 Binary HD192641

We present the results of an optical spectroscopic study of the massive Wolf-Rayet binary HD192641=WR137. These 1986-2000 data cover the dust-formation maximum in 1997. Combining all available measurements of radial velocities, we derive, for the first time, a spectroscopic orbit with period 4766 ± 66 days (13.05 ± 0.18 years). The resulting masses, adopting i=67 ◦ , are MO=20 ± 2M ⊙ for the O component and MWR=4.4 ± 1.5M ⊙ for the WR component. These appear, respectively, ∼ normal and on the low side for the given spectral types. Analysis of the intense multi-site spectroscopic monitoring in 1999 shows that the CIII λ5696 and CIV λ5802/12 lines have the highest intrinsic variability levels. The periodogram analysis yields a smallamplitud

Galactic Starburst NGC 3603 from X-Rays to Radio

NGC 3603 is the most massive and luminous visible starburst region in the Galaxy. We present the first Chandra/ACIS-I X-ray image and spectra of this dense, exotic object, accompanied by deep cm-wavelength ATCA radio image at similar or less than 1 inch spatial resolution, and HST/ground-based optical data. At the S/N greater than 3 level, Chandra detects several hundred X-ray point sources (compared to the 3 distinct sources seen by ROSAT). At least 40 of these sources are definitely associated with optically identified cluster O and WR type members, but most are not. A diffuse X-ray component is also seen out to approximately 2 feet (4 pc) form the center, probably arising mainly from the large number of merging/colliding hot stellar winds and/or numerous faint cluster sources. The point-source X-ray fluxes generally increase with increasing bolometric brightnesses of the member O/WR stars, but with very large scatter. Some exceptionally bright stellar X-ray sources may be colliding wind binaries. The radio image shows (1) two resolved sources, one definitely non-thermal, in the cluster core near where the X-ray/optically brightest stars with the strongest stellar winds are located, (2) emission from all three known proplyd-like objects (with thermal and non-thermal components, and (3) many thermal sources in the peripheral regions of triggered star-formation. Overall, NGC 3603 appears to be a somewhat younger and hotter, scaled-down version of typical starbursts found in other galaxies

An X-ray investigation of the NGC 346 field in the Small Magellanic Cloud. II. The field population

We present results from a Chandra observation of the NGC 346 cluster, which is the ionizing source of N66, the most luminous H II region and the largest star formation region in the SMC. In the first part of this investigation, we have analyzed the X-ray properties of the cluster itself and the remarkable star HD 5980, but the field contains additional objects of interest. In total, 75 X-ray point sources were detected in the Chandra observation: this is 5 times the number of sources detected by previous X-ray surveys. We investigate here their characteristics in detail. Because of high foreground absorption, the sources possess rather high hardness ratios. Their cumulative luminosity function appears generally steeper than that for the rest of the SMC at higher luminosities. Their absorption columns suggest that most of the sources belong to NGC 346. Using Digitized Sky Survey data and new UBVRI imaging with the ESO 2.2 m telescope, we also discovered possible counterparts for 32 of these X-ray sources and estimated a B spectral type for a large number of these counterparts. This tends to suggest that most of the X-ray sources in the field are in fact X-ray binaries. Finally, some objects show X-ray and/or optical variability, with a need for further monitoring