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S. Croft, W. van Breugel (UC LLNL), W. de Vries (UC Davis), J. H. van Gorkom (Columbia), R. Morganti, T. Osterloo (ASTRON, Netherlands), M. Dopita (ANU, Mt. Stromlo, Australia)
We present Keck, Lick and HST spectroscopic and imaging data on ``Minkowski's Object'', a peculiar starburst system triggered by an FR-I jet from the nearby radio galaxy NGC 541. We compare star formation rates and starburst ages from stellar population synthesis with the timescales for neutral hydrogen (HI) formation as determined from VLA observations (see talk by van Breugel et al), allowing us to constrain the physical conditions in the radio jet and its ambient medium. We investigate the hypothesis that Minkowski's Object was formed in its entirety during the collision of the jet with a warm cloud of hydrogen gas (see simulations of Fragile et al 2004) as opposed to a pre-existing peculiar galaxy rejuvenated by the collision of the jet with its gas-rich intergalactic medium.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.