Star Formation in the Prototype Super Star Cluster R136

Details Star Formation in the Prototype Super Star Cluster R136 Star Formation in the Prototype Super Star Cluster R136

Jul 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6417m&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #6417

Computer Science

Hst Proposal Id #6417 Stellar Populations

Scientific paper

R136 is the prototype ``super star cluster'', the result of an intense star-formation event. Similarly extreme objects have now been recognized in more distant galaxies, and may in fact be the young analogs of globular clusters. Located in the LMC, R136 is the only such young, compact, luminous star cluster that can be studied in sufficent detail for a direct determination of its stellar content, and thus represents our best opportunity to examine the star formation process in such events. Therefore, we are proposing to obtain the optical spectra of roughly 100 of the most luminous stars in R136 necessary to accurately place them on an HR diagram and thus infer their masses and ages from evolutionary tracks. This will directly tell us the initial mass function of the massive stars in this extreme object, and provide the chronology of star formation within the cluster. The comparison with the IMF's determined for the same mass range in ``normal" OB associations and clusters, as well as field stars, will reveal whether the star formation process depends on the concentration of the star-forming region. The ages and age spread of the massive stars, when compared to the ages of intermediate mass stars on pre-main sequence tracks, will show how star formation proceeded within the region.

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