Resolving the Luminous O III Lambda 5007 Sources in the Early-Types Galaxies of Virgo

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Hst Proposal Id #6123 Interstellar Medium

Scientific paper

Observations of over 3000 planetary nebulae in the Local Group, M81, NGC 5128, and galaxies in Leo I, Coma I, Triangulum, Fornax, and Virgo show that the O III Lambda 5007 planetary nebula luminosity function has an extremely sharp cutoff at bright magnitudes. However, O III surveys of Virgo Cluster ellipticals have turned up 9 objects that are significantly brighter than this cutoff. While about half of these objects might be explained by the superposition of two, separate bright sources (optical doubling), the three most luminous objects are ~ 1 mag brighter than any planetary nebula discovered anywhere. We propose to image these over- luminous objects with the F502N filter and the Planetary Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope. If HST resolves these objects into H II regions, then we will have direct evidence of star formation in the early-type galaxies of Virgo. If HST does not resolve the sources, then we will be forced to conclude that either a young stellar population exists in the Virgo ellipticals, or that there exists, in addition to classical PN, a completely different population of O III Lambda 5007 sources.

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