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Session 61 - New Views of the Magellanic Clouds.
Display session, Wednesday, June 12
Great Hall,
The giant HII region 30 Doradus shows prominent filaments of ionized gas, bright diffuse X-ray emission, and violent internal gas motions. These features indicate the prevalence of interstellar shocks in 30 Dor. Interstellar shocks can be produced by fast stellar winds and supernova blasts. 30 Dor contains two clusters: the populous young cluster R136 and the older cluster Anon(R132), which provide stellar winds and supernovae, respectively. Therfore, the shocking structure is not unexpected.
We have obtained proprietary and archival HST WFPC2 images, ROSAT X-ray observations, and high-resolution echelle spectra of 30 Dor in the vicinity of R136 as well as Anon(R132). These data are used to map the distribution and to examine the origin of interstellar shocks. A comparative study of the interstellar structure near these two clusters allows us to investigate how shocks affect the evolution of the interstellar medium in a giant HII region.
