AAS Meeting #193 - Austin, Texas, January 1999
Session 76. Starburst and Ring Galaxies
Display, Friday, January 8, 1999, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall 1

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[76.07] HST Observations of the Wolf-Rayet Galaxy He2-10

K. E. Johnson (U. Colorado), W. D. Vacca (IFA), P. S. Conti (U. Colorado), C. Leitherer (STScI)

We use Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 optical images to examine the star formation history and properties of the Wolf-Rayet galaxy He2-10. The high spatial resolution afforded by HST has allowed us to identify a large number of starburst knots, or ``super star clusters'' (SSCs) in this system. Photometry of these SSCs in the optical bands indicates that these objects have ages as young as a few Myr, and masses less than 105 M\odot. These properties are in good agreement with those found for SSCs in other starburst galaxies. Our results support the suggestion that some of these SSCs may be extremely young globular clusters formed in a relatively recent starburst episode which has been triggered by a merger event.


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