Young open cluster NGC 602 inspected with ALMA

Tomasz Nowakowski is a member of the physics.org community.

Astronomers used the ALMA to investigate a young open cluster in theSMC. The results of the research presented on the arXiv pre-print server show that the cluster experienced a sequential star formation process.

A group of stars are bound to each other by a giant cloud of atoms. More than a thousand of them have been found in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more. Our understanding of the formation and evolution of our galaxy could be improved if we expanded the list of known open clusters.

There is a young, bright, low-metallicity OC in the vicinity of 196,000 light years away. There are clouds of ionized atomic hydrogen in the "Wing" of the SMC. There is a chance to examine star formation scenarios under dramatically different conditions from the solar neighborhood.

A team of astronomer led by Theo J. O'Neill of the University of Virginia investigated the nature of dense gas in N90 and the history of the region.

The results of ALMA observations were presented in the paper.

Observations identified over 100 clumps. There are clumps in the region. The total gas mass in N90 is thought to be at a level of 16,600 solar mass.

According to the study, clumps in N90 don't agree with expected trends. They had largervelocity dispersions and lower surface densities than predicted.

The results show that intermediate-mass star formation has been occurring in the N90 region over the last two million years. According to the research, the recent star-formation rate for N90 was calculated to be about 130 solar masses per year, but there was no evidence that the star formation along the rim of N90 was caused by the recent star-formation rate.

The astronomer concluded that the properties of clumps in N90 reveal the history of the region. The results show that star formation in N90 is not more efficient than star formation in high density environments.

More information: Theo J. O'Neill et al, Sequential Star Formation in the Young SMC Region NGC 602: Insights from ALMA. arXiv:2208.13768v1 [astro-ph.GA], arxiv.org/abs/2208.13768

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