Other
Scientific paper
Jul 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6507b&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #6507
Other
Hst Proposal Id #6507 Stellar Populations
Scientific paper
Star formation (SF) in galaxies can propagate in several ways.Spiral density waves and self-propagating SF are currentlybelieved to be the two viable mechanisms enabling thepropagation of SF in normal spiral galaxies. In the absence ofdensity waves, in dwarf and irregular galaxies like NGC 3664, self-propagating SF appears to be the dominant mechanism.Investigations of the LMC and other Magellanic irregulars showa tendency of SF occurring preferably along the rims of giantgas shells. For NGC 3664, this is suggested by our ground-based HAlpha and R-band images which show the presence of HIIregions and diffuse ionized gas on the rims of several verywell-defined large-scale (>1 kpc) loops and shells. Theseshells might be giant old superbubbles from an earlier phaseof SF. The gas is probably heated by a second, youngerpopulation of massive hot stars which formed when theshockwaves of the former phase of SF expanded into the ambientISM. HST WFPC2 photometry will allow us to determine the agesof the stellar populations inside and on the rims of thesupershells by measuring their colors and comparing them withstellar population synthesis models. From the color gradientswe will derive the propagation velocity of SF, which will becompared with the expansion velocity of the gas in the shells.At the distance of NGC 3664 (24.4 Mpc) single stellar clustersare resolved by the WFPC2, which will lead to a much higheraccuracy of our data than can be achieved from the ground.
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