Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2

Details Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2 Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2

2006-12-21

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0612622v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

11 pages, 8 figures (figs 1, 3 and 5 in jpg), accepted for publication by A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20066495

Aims. The properties of the early-type stars in the core of the Westerlund2 cluster are examined in order to establish a link between the cluster and the very massive Wolf-Rayet binary WR20a as well as the HII complex RCW49. Methods. Photometric monitoring as well as spectroscopic observations of Westerlund2 are used to search for light variability and to establish the spectral types of the early-type stars in the cluster core. Results. The first light curves of the eclipsing binary WR20a in B and V filters are analysed and a distance of 8kpc is inferred. Three additional eclipsing binaries, which are probable late O or early B-type cluster members, are discovered, but none of the known early O-type stars in the cluster displays significant photometric variability above 1% at the 1-sigma level. The twelve brightest O-type stars are found to have spectral types between O3 and O6.5, significantly earlier than previously thought. Conclusions. The distance of the early-type stars in Westerlund2 is established to be in excellent agreement with the distance of WR20a, indicating that WR20a actually belongs to the cluster. Our best estimate of the cluster distance thus amounts to 8.0pm1.4kpc. Despite the earlier spectral types, the currently known population of early-type stars in Westerlund2 does not provide enough ionizing photons to account for the radio emission of the RCW49 complex. This suggests that there might still exist a number of embedded early O-stars in RCW49.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Early-type stars in the core of the young open cluster Westerlund2 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-21256