Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-12-15
Astron.Astrophys. 415 (2004) 509-520
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 3 figures
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20034635
We present new observations of the famous starburst galaxy NGC 5253 which owes its celebrity to possibly being the youngest and closest starburst galaxy known. Our observations in the infrared and millimeter contribute to shed light on the properties of this interesting object. We have used our new data along with data from the literature to study the properties of the young stellar clusters present in NGC 5253. We find that the brightest optical clusters are all characterized by a near-infrared excess that is explained by the combined effect of extinction and emission by dust. For the brightest infrared cluster we model the spectral energy distribution from the optical to the radio. We find that this cluster dominates the galaxy emission longward of 3 \mic, that it has a bolometric luminosity of $1.2~10^9 L_{\odot}$ and a mass of $1.2~10^6 M_{\odot}$, giving $L/M\approx10^3$. The cluster is obscured by 7 mag of optical extinction produced by about 1.5 10$^{5}$ $M_{\odot}$ of dust. The dust properties are peculiar with respect to the dust properties in the solar neighbourhood with a composition characterized by a lack of silicates and a flatter size distribution than the standard one, i.e. a bias toward larger grains. We find that NGC 5253 is a striking example of a galaxy where the infrared-submillimeter and ultraviolet-optical emissions originate in totally decoupled regions of vastly different physical sizes.
Sauvage Marc
Vanzi Leonardo
No associations
LandOfFree
Dust and Super Star Clusters in NGC 5253 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 Dust and Super Star Clusters in NGC 5253, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dust and Super Star Clusters in NGC 5253 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-101839