Two-micron spectrophotometry of the galaxy NGC 253.
Abstract
A very strong Brackett-gamma hydrogen emission line and the 2.3-micron CO stellar absorption feature have been measured in NGC 253. The presence and strength of the CO feature indicate that late-type giant stars produce most of the 2.2-micron continuum emission, while the rate of ionization implied by strength of the Brackett-gamma line indicates that much, perhaps all, of the luminosity detected at far-infrared wavelengths originates from a large number of OB stars. As compared with the corresponding region of the Galaxy, the number of massive young stars in the central 200 pc of NGC 253 is 30 times greater, but the total mass of stars is roughly the same.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/189.2.163
- Bibcode:
- 1979MNRAS.189..163W
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Photometry;
- Galactic Radiation;
- Hydrogen;
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Spectrophotometry;
- Carbon Monoxide;
- Emission Spectra;
- Galactic Nuclei;
- Giant Stars;
- Neon;
- Astronomy;
- Galaxies:Infrared Spectra;
- Galaxies:Late-Type Giants;
- Galaxies:Luminosities;
- Galaxies:OB Stars;
- Galaxies:Spectrophotometry