Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· Full Refereed Journal Article (PDF/Postscript)
· arXiv e-print (arXiv:0903.2238)
· On-line Data
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (3) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· SIMBAD Objects (22)
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Near-Infrared Spectra of Galactic Stellar Clusters Detected on Spitzer/GLIMPSE Images
Authors:
Messineo, Maria; Davies, Ben; Ivanov, Valentin D.; Figer, Donald F.; Schuller, Frederic; Habing, Harm J.; Menten, Karl M.; Petr-Gotzens, Monika G.
Affiliation:
AA(Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA ), AB(Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA ), AC(European Southern Observatory, Avenue Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19, Santiago 19001, Chile ), AD(Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA ), AE(Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany ), AF(Leiden Observatory, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands ), AG(Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany ), AH(European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei München, Germany)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 697, Issue 1, pp. 701-712 (2009). (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
05/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
infrared: stars, stars: evolution
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/697/1/701
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...697..701M

Abstract

We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of massive stars in three stellar clusters located in the direction of the inner Galaxy. One of them, the Quartet, is a new discovery while the other two were previously reported as candidate clusters identified on mid-infrared Spitzer images (GLIMPSE20 and GLIMPSE13). Using medium-resolution (R = 900-1320) H and K spectroscopy, we firmly establish the nature of the brightest stars in these clusters, yielding new identifications of an early WC and two Ofpe/WN9 stars in the Quartet and an early WC star in GLIMPSE20. We combine this information with the available photometric measurements from Two Micron All Sky Survey, to estimate cluster masses, ages, and distances. The presence of several massive stars places the Quartet and GLIMPSE20 among the small sample of known Galactic stellar clusters with masses of a few 103 M sun, and ages from 3 to 8 Myr. We estimate a distance of about 3.5 kpc for GLIMPSE20 and 6.0 kpc for Quartet. The large number of giant stars identified in GLIMPSE13 indicates that it is another massive (~6500 M sun) cluster, but older, with an age between 30 and 100 Myr, at a distance of about 3 kpc.

Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory (ESO Programme 079.D-0807).

Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)
   

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints