A major star formation region in the receding tip of the stellar Galactic bar. II. Supplementary information and evidence that the bar is not the same structure as the triaxial bulge previouly reported

Abstract

This paper is the second part of Garzon et al. (1997: ApJ 491, L31) in which we presented an outline of the analysis of 60 spectra from a follow-up program to the Two Micron Galactic Survey (TMGS) project in the l=27 deg., b=0 deg. area. In this second part, we present a more detailed explanation of the analysis as well a library of the spectra for more complete information for each of the 60 stars, and further discussions on the implications for the structure of the Galaxy. This region contains a prominent excess in the flux distribution and star counts previously observed in several spectral ranges, notably in the TMGS. More than 50% of the spectra of the stars detected with m_K<5.0 mag, within a very high confidence level, correspond to stars of luminosity class I, and a significant proportion of the remainder are very late giants which must also be rapidly evolving. We make the case, using all the available evidence, that we are observing a region at the nearer end of the Galactic bar, where the Scutum spiral arm breaks away, and that this is powerful evidence for the presence of the bar. Alternative explanations do not give nearly such a satisfactory account of the observations. The space localization of one and, a fortiori, of both ends of the bar allows us to infer a position angle for the bar of around 75 deg. with respect to the Sun-Galactic centre line. The angle is different from that given by other authors for the bar and this, we think, is because they refer to the triaxial bulge and not to the bar as detected here.Comment: 21 pages, 1 table, 9 figures, accepted in A