Wolf-Rayet Stars in NGC 5430

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 5430 has been found to contain a starforming region, about 6 kpc from the nucleus, with conspicuous Wolf-Rayet features in optical spectra. If these features are due to WR stars like those seen locally, about 3x10^4 are present in a region only a few hundred parsecs across. Dilution of their light by that of a comparable number of O stars makes it difficult to determine the WN/WC mixture, and determine whether the WR stars are like those seen locally. This is a proposal to measure the UV resonance lines of C and N, and possibly their profiles, as a way of addressing these points, The results could suggest mechanism for producing such massive starbursts and provides clues to their evolution.