Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mar 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008head...10.2911f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #10, #29.11
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
A valuable new view of the spatial structures and origins of the young stellar populations in the W3 star forming complex (d=2 kpc) is given by a mosaic image obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Chandra image reveals about 1300 faint X-ray sources, most of which are PMS stars in the cloud. Some of the high-mass stars producing hypercompact and ultracompact HII (UCHII) regions are also seen, as reported in a previous study.
The Chandra images reveal three dramatically different embedded stellar populations. The W3 Main cluster extends over 7 pc with about 900 X-ray stars in a nearly-spherical distribution centered on the well-studied UCHII regions and high-mass protostars. The cluster surrounding the prototypical UCHII region W3(OH) shows a much smaller (0.6 pc), asymmetrical, and clumpy distribution of about 50 PMS stars. The massive star ionizing the W3 North HII region is completely isolated without any accompanying PMS stars. In W3 Main, the inferred ages of the widely distributed PMS stars are significantly older than the inferred ages of the central OB stars illuminating the UCHIIs.
We suggest that different formation mechanisms are necessary to explain the diversity of the W3 stellar populations: cluster-wide gravitational collapse with delayed OB star formation in W3 Main, collect-and-collapse triggering by shock fronts in W3(OH), and a runaway O star or isolated massive star formation in W3 North.
This study illustrates the considerable potential of X-ray astronomy in elucidating important contemporary star formation. This work was supported by the ACIS Team contract SV-74018 and GO grant GO5-6143X.
Feigelson Eric
Townsley Leisa Kay
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