Myr Star Clusters Research Articles

Discovery of a very cool object with extraordinarily strong H$\mathsf{\alpha}$ emission

We report on the finding of the strongest Hα emission – pseudoequivalent width of 705 Å – known so far in a young, late type dwarf. This object, named as S Ori 71, is a substellar candidate member of the 1–8 Myr star cluster σ Orionis. Due to its overluminous location in color-magnitude diagrams, S Ori 71 might be younger than other cluster members, or a binary of similar components. Its mass is in the range 0.021–0.012 , depending on evolutionary models and possible binarity. The broad Hα line of S Ori 71 appears asymmetric, indicative of high velocity mass motions in the Hα forming region. The origin of this emission is unclear at the present time. We discuss three possible scenarios: accretion from a disk, mass exchange between the components of a binary system, and emission from a chromosphere.

Structural Properties of Massive Young Clusters

We have retrieved multicolor WFPC2/HST data from the STScI archive for 27 nearby Massive (>= 3x10^4 M_Sun) Young (< 20 Myr) star Clusters (MYCs). The data represents the most-complete-to-date sample of clearly resolved MYCs. We have analyzed their structural properties and have found that they can be classified as either Super Star Clusters (SSCs) or as Scaled OB Associations (SOBAs). SSCs have a compact core possibly surrounded by a halo while SOBAs have no core. A morphological sequence can be established from SSCs with weak halos to SSCs with strong halos to SOBAs and we propose that this is linked to the original mass distribution of the parent giant molecular clouds. Our results indicate that a significant fraction of the stars in MYCs dissipate on timescales of 10 Gyr or less due to the extended character of some of the clusters. Also, SSCs with ages < 7 Myr have smaller cores on average than those with ages > 7 Myr, confirming predictions of numerical simulations with mass loss.