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HST and Keck Observations of a Young Globular Cluster in the Spiral Galaxy NGC 6946

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2017

Søren S. Larsen
Affiliation:
Lick Observatory, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA
Jean P. Brodie
Affiliation:
Lick Observatory, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA
Bruce G. Elmegreen
Affiliation:
IBM Research Division, T.J. Watson Research Center, New York, USA
Yuri N. Efremov
Affiliation:
Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia
Paul W. Hodge
Affiliation:
Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Tom Richtler
Affiliation:
Grupo de Astronomía, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile

Abstract

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Using new (Cycle 9) HST / WFPC2 data, we have studied a peculiar star forming region in the nearby Sc-type spiral NGC 6946. The region has a bubble-like shape and a diameter of about 600 pc. Near the centre is an extremely luminous young globular cluster with MV = −13.2 mag. The cluster has a compact core with a core radius of about 1.3 pc but is surrounded by an extended halo with a power-law luminosity profile similar to that observed for young LMC clusters. From Keck / HIRES high-dispersion spectroscopy we measure a velocity dispersion of 10 km s−1, leading to a dynamical mass estimate of about 1.7 × 106 solar masses. The dynamical mass estimate is comparable to the expectation from population synthesis modelling under the assumption of a Salpeter IMF extending down to 0.1 M.

Type
Part 4. Star Cluster Formation and Evolution: Theory and Observation
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2002 

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