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Register a new userA mid-infrared study of HII regions in the Magellanic Clouds: N88A and N160A
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Leticia Mart\\'in-Hern\\'andez
Publication date
2008
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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To show the importance of high-spatial resolution observations of HII regions when compared with observations obtained with larger apertures such as ISO, we present mid-infrared spectra of two Magellanic Cloud HII regions, N88A and N160A. We obtained mid-infrared (8-13 um), long-slit spectra with TIMMI2 on the ESO 3.6m telescope. These are combined with archival spectra obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, and are compared with the low-spatial resolution ISO-SWS data. An inventory of the spectra in terms of atomic fine-structure lines and molecular bands is presented. Concerning N88A, an isolated HII region with no adjacent infrared sources, the observations indicate that the line fluxes observed by ISO-SWS and Spitzer-IRS come exclusively from the compact HII region of about 3 arcsec in diameter. This is not the case for N160A, which has a more complex morphology. We have spectroscopically isolated for the first time the individual contributions of the three components of N160A, two high-excitation blobs, A1 and A2, and the young stellar object N160A-IR. In addition, extended [SIV] emission is observed with TIMMI2 and is most likely associated with the central star cluster located between A1 and A2. We show the value of these high-spatial resolution data in determining source characteristics, such as the degree of ionization of each high-excitation blob or the bolometric luminosity of the YSO. This luminosity is about one order of magnitude lower than previously estimated. For each high-excitation blob, we also determine the electron density and the elemental abundances of Ne, S, and Ar.
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We present a study of the mid-infrared properties and dust content of a sample of 27 HII ``blobs, a rare class of compact HII regions in the Magellanic Clouds. A unique feature of this sample is that even though these HII regions are of high and low excitation they have nearly the same physical sizes ~1.5-3 pc. We base our analysis on archival 3-8 microns infrared imagery obtained with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find that despite their youth, sub-solar metallicity and varied degrees of excitation, the mid-infrared colors of these regions are similar to those of typical HII regions. Higher excitation ``blobs (HEBs) display stronger 8 micron emission and redder colors than their low-excitation counterparts (LEBs).
Using high-resolution imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope, we study the Large Magellanic Cloud HII region N160A and uncover several striking features of this complex massive star-forming site. The two compact high excitation HII blobs (HEBs) A1 and A2 are for the first time resolved and their stellar content and morphology is revealed. A1, being of higher excitation, is powered by a single massive star whose strong wind has created a surrounding bubble. A2 harbors several exciting stars enshrouded inside large quantities of dust. The whole N160A nebula is energized by three star clusters for which we obtain photometry and study their color-magnitude diagram. The HII region is particularly dusty, with extinction values reaching an A_v~2.5 mag in the visible, and it is separated from the molecular cloud by an outstanding ionization front. A previously detected infrared young stellar object is also accurately located with respect to the HII region.
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