Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-07-16
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal
Scientific paper
Early release science observations of the cluster NGC3603 with the WFC3 on the refurbished HST allow us to study its recent star formation history. Our analysis focuses on stars with Halpha excess emission, a robust indicator of their pre-main sequence (PMS) accreting status. The comparison with theoretical PMS isochrones shows that 2/3 of the objects with Halpha excess emission have ages from 1 to 10 Myr, with a median value of 3 Myr, while a surprising 1/3 of them are older than 10 Myr. The study of the spatial distribution of these PMS stars allows us to confirm their cluster membership and to statistically separate them from field stars. This result establishes unambiguously for the first time that star formation in and around the cluster has been ongoing for at least 10-20 Myr, at an apparently increasing rate.
Andersen Morten
Balick Bruce
Beccari Giacomo
Bond Howard
Calzetti Daniela
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