A deep dive into NGC604 with Gemini/NIRI imaging

Authors :: Rodolfo H. Barbá
Cecilia Fariña
Guillermo Luis Bosch
Source :: SEDICI (UNLP), Universidad Nacional de La Plata, instacron:UNLP
Publication Year :: 2009
Abstract: The giant HII region NGC 604 constitutes a complex and rich population to studying detail many aspects of massive star formation, such as their environments and physical conditions, the evolutionary processes involved, the initial mass function for massive stars and star-formation rates, among many others. Here, we present our first results of a near-infrared study of NGC 604 performed with NIRI images obtained with Gemini North. Based on deep JHK photometry, 164 sources showing infrared excess were detected, pointing to the places where we should look for star-formation processes currently taking place. In addition, the color-color diagram reveals a great number of objects that could be giant/supergiant stars or unresolved, small, tight clusters. A extinction map obtained based on narrow-band images is also shown.<br />Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 266, Star Clusters: Basic Galactic Building Blocks Throughout Time and Space, eds. R. de Grijs and J. Lepine