Abstract
Early Release Science observations of the cluster NGC 3603 with the WFC3 on the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope allow us to study its recent star formation history. Our analysis focuses on stars with Hαexcess emission, a robust indicator of their pre-main sequence (PMS) accreting status. The comparison with theoretical PMS isochrones shows that 2/3 of the objects with Hαexcess emission have ages from 1 to 10 Myr, with a median value of 3 Myr, while a surprising 1/3 of them are older than 10 Myr. The study of the spatial distribution of these PMS stars allows us to confirm their cluster membership and to statistically separate them from field stars. This result establishes unambiguously for the first time that star formation in and around the cluster has been ongoing for at least 10-20 Myr, at an apparently increasing rate.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1108-1117 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
Volume | 720 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 10 2010 |
Keywords
- Open clusters and associations: individual (NGC 3603)
- Stars: pre-main sequence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science