An extragalactic supernebula confined by gravity

Article

关键词: H-II REGIONS;    STAR-FORMING GALAXIES;    NGC 5253;    INFRARED-EMISSION;    RADIO SUPERNEBULA;    NGC-5253;    GAS;    ALPHA;    POPULATION;    STARBURST;   

DOI  :  10.1038/nature01689

来源: SCIE

【 摘 要 】

Little is known about the origins of globular clusters, which contain hundreds of thousands of stars in a volume only a few light years across. Radiation pressure and winds from luminous young stars should disperse the star-forming gas and disrupt the formation of the cluster. Globular clusters in our Galaxy cannot provide answers; they are billions of years old. Here we report the measurement of infrared hydrogen recombination lines from a young, forming super star cluster in the dwarf galaxy NGC5253. The lines arise in gas heated by a cluster of about one million stars, including 4,000 -6,000 massive, hot 'O' stars(1,2). It is so young that it is still enshrouded in gas and dust, hidden from optical view(1,3-5 .) The gases within the cluster seem bound by gravity, which may explain why the windy and luminous O stars have not yet blown away those gases. Young clusters in 'starbursting' galaxies in the local and distant Universe may also be gravitationally confined and cloaked from view.

【 授权许可】

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