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J. L. Turner (UCLA), S. C. Beck (Tel Aviv University), V. Gorjian (NASA/JPL), P. T. P. Ho (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
We present subarcsecond resolution infrared and radio continuum observations of the central starburst in the dwarf galaxy NGC 5253. The data were obtained with the Very Large Array of the NRAO and the Long Wavelength Spectrometer of the Keck Observatory. The images indicate a dense (ne ~ 104 cm-3), bright nebula that is ~ 2 pc in extent, and optically invisible. The excitation of this dense HII region requires on the order of 5000-8000 O7 stars within the 2 pc region. The nebula is responsible for nearly all of the mid-infrared continuum emission observed by IRAS for this galaxy, and is responsible for its extremely blue near-infrared color. We believe that we may have identified the very youngest known globular cluster, currently in the process of formation.
This work is partially supported by the National Science Foundation and the United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: turner@astro.ucla.edu