Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-12-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
13 pages, 14 figures. accepted for publication in ApJ. A version with high-resolution figures can be found at the following lo
Scientific paper
We present HST/NICMOS photometry, and low-resolution K-band spectra of the GLIMPSE9 stellar cluster. The newly obtained color-magnitude diagram shows a cluster sequence with H-Ks =1 mag, indicating an interstellar extinction Aks=1.6\pm0.2 mag. The spectra of the three brightest stars show deep CO band-heads, which indicate red supergiants with spectral type M1-M2. Two 09-B2 supergiants are also identified, which yield a spectrophotometric distance of 4.2\pm0.4 kpc. Presuming that the population is coeval, we derive an age between 15 and 27 Myr, and a total cluster mass of 1600\pm400 Msun, integrated down to 1 Msun. In the vicinity of GLIMPSE9 are several HII regions and SNRs, all of which (including GLIMPSE 9) are probably associated with a giant molecular cloud (GMC) in the inner galaxy. GLIMPSE9 probably represents one episode of massive star formation in this GMC. We have identified several other candidate stellar clusters of the same complex.
Davies Ben
Figer Donald F.
Kudritzki Rolf Peter
MacKenty John
Messineo Maria
No associations
LandOfFree
HST/NICMOS observations of the GLIMPSE9 stellar cluster 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 HST/NICMOS observations of the GLIMPSE9 stellar cluster, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and HST/NICMOS observations of the GLIMPSE9 stellar cluster will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-595871