[Previous] | [Session 2] | [Next]
K.E. Johnson (U. Colorado), W.D. Vacca (M.P.E.), H.A. Kobulnicky (U. Wisconsin), P.S. Conti (U. Colorado)
As part of an ongoing program to better understand the early stages of massive star cluster evolution and the physical conditions for their formation, we have obtained 10 micron (N-band) images with the Gemini North telescope of the nuclear region of the starburst galaxy He2-10. Five ultra-young massive star clusters still enshrouded in their natal cocoons were recently discovered in He2-10 by Kobulnicky & Johnson (1999). In only ten minutes of `on source' integration time with Gemini (due to poor weather conditions), we were able to strongly detect three of the five enshrouded clusters, or ``ultradense HII regions''. Based on this preliminary data, we estimate the blackbody temperatures of the dust cocoons to be ~ 80 - 120 K, and the bolometric luminosities of the exciting star clusters can be constrained to ~108 to 1010 L\odot. Based on these bolometric luminosities, the masses of the embedded clusters are estimated at 105 - 107 M\odot. These embedded clusters could be responsible for up to ~ 30% of the total IRAS flux of He2-10.