Other
Scientific paper
Apr 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009sptz.prop60060m&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #60060
Other
Scientific paper
NGC 3603 is one of the most massive (~10,000 solar masses) and compact (5~pc) young star clusters known in the Milky Way. It is therefore a candidate young globular cluster, with properties similar to massive young clusters found in other galaxies such as the LMC, M51 and the Antenna. Due to its proxmity and low extinction, NGC 3603 is one of the few massive clusters where it is possible to detect the low mass stars that dominate the total mass of the cluster. NGC 3603 lies in the center of a 40 pc diameter, 100,000 solar mass molecular cloud complex; little is known about the stars forming in this complex. We propose the first systematic survey of this complex using deep 3.6 and 4.5 micron Spitzer imaging of a 59 by 57 pc region centered on NGC 3603. By combining this data with scheduled VLT JHK imaging of the same field, we can detect and identify low to intermediate mass stars with disks and protostars in the cloud complex. Our goal is to probe the relationship between spatially extended OB associations and compact clusters of OB stars. Our method is to compare the spatial distribution of intermediate to low mass stars in the extended NGC 3603 complex to that found in OB associations like Orion. Specifically, is NGC 3603 part of a large, extended complex containing both clustered and distributed star formation, and consequently similar to nearby associations? Or did NGC 3603 result from a distinct, compact mode of star formation? These observations will give us unique insight into the process of massive star cluster formation in other galaxies and how this process may differ from star formation near the Sun.
Chandar Rupali
Megeath Tom
Nuernberger Dieter
Zinnecker Hans
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