Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T07:35:51.281Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The stellar population of the inner 200 parsecs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2017

R. Michael Rich
R. Michael Rich*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, Columbia University 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The central 200 pc of the Galaxy is obscured by 5-30 visual magnitudes of extinction and therefore may be studied only in the infrared. The central parsec consists of a mostly red star cluster (IRS 16) and a cluster of ≈ 10 HeI Wolf-Rayet or Of-like stars; this cluster is the best evidence for star formation in this region. The central 5 pc has an extended giant branch (to M bol /=−6) and long period variables. These stars are not extraordinarily bright; in the central 200 pc luminous asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars (M bol < −5) concentrate toward the nucleus in a distribution more flattened than the general light. Candidates for relatively young objects include a rapidly rotating population of high outflow velocity OH/IR stars. The AGB luminosity function in the central 200 pc resembles that recently found in M32 and M31 bulge fields. Depending on how one interprets the extended giant branch, the population may be intermediate age with some ongoing star formation, or mostly old and metal rich, with star formation confined to the nucleus.

Type
Invited Reviews
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 153: Galactic Bulges , 1993 , pp. 169 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1993 

References

Allen, D.A., Hyland, A.R., & Hillier, D.J. 1990, M.N.R.A.S., 244, 706.Google Scholar
Backer, D.C., ed., The Galactic Center, AIP Conf. 155, (AIP:NY).Google Scholar
Becklin, E., Gatley, I., and Werner, M.W. 1982, Ap.J., 258, 135.Google Scholar
Becklin, E.E., & Neugebauer, G. 1968, Ap.J., 151, 145.Google Scholar
Binney, J. et al. 1991, M.N.R.A.S., 252, 210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanco, V.M. 1965, in Vol. 5, Stars & Stellar Systems, Blanco, A. & Schmidt, M., eds. (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago) p. 241.Google Scholar
Blitz, L., ed., 1992, The Center, Bulge, and Disk of the Milky Way, (Dordrecht: Kluwer).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blitz, L., & Spergel, D.N. 1991, Ap.J., 379, 631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, W.B., & Gordon, M.A. 1978, Astr. Ap., 63, 7.Google Scholar
Catchpole, R.M., Whitelock, P.A., & Glass, I.S. 1990, M.N.R.A.S., 247, 479.Google Scholar
Davies, R.L., Frogel, J.A., & Terndrup, D.M. 1991, A.J., 102, 1729.Google Scholar
Depoy, D., & Sharp, N. 1991, A.J., 101, 1324.Google Scholar
Eckart, D. et al. 1992, Nature, 335, 526.Google Scholar
Elston, R., & Silva, D.R. 1992, A.J., 104, 1360.Google Scholar
Feast, M. W. 1981, in Physical Process in Red Giants, Renzini, A. & Iben, I., eds. (Reidel: Dordrecht) p. 64.Google Scholar
Frogel, J.A. & Whitford, A.E. 1987, Ap.J., 320, 199.Google Scholar
Freedman, W.L. 1992a, in IAU Symp. 149 The Stellar Populations of Galaxies Barbuy, B. and Renzini, A, eds. p. 169.Google Scholar
Freedman, W.L., 1992b, A.J., 104, 1349.Google Scholar
Gatley, I. in The Galactic Center, Backer, D. C., ed. AIP Conf. 155, (AIP:NY) p. 8.Google Scholar
Glass, I.S., Catchpole, R.M., & Whitelock, P.A. 1987, M.N.R.A.S., 227, 373.Google Scholar
Kent, S.M. 1992, Ap.J., 387, 181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, S.M., Dame, T.M., & Fazio, G. 1991 Ap.J., 378, 496.Google Scholar
Kent, S.M. 1989, A.J., 97, 1614.Google Scholar
Krabbe, A., Genzel, R., Dropatz, S., & Rotaciuc, V. Ap.J. (Letters), 382, L19.Google Scholar
Lindqvist, M., Habing, H.J., & Winnberg, A. 1992, Astr. Ap., 259, 118.Google Scholar
Minniti, D.M. 1993, in preparation.Google Scholar
Minitti, D., Rieke, M. et al. 1993, Ap.J. (Letters), in press.Google Scholar
Morris, M., ed., 1989, The Center of the Galaxy, IAU Symp. 136 (Dordrecht:Kluwer).Google Scholar
Morris, M. 1992, in preparation.Google Scholar
Ortolani, S., & Rich, R.M. 1993, in preparation.Google Scholar
Renzini, A. & Buzzoni, A. 1986 in Spectral Evolution of Galaxies, eds. Chiosi, C. & Renzini, A. (Dordrecht: Reidel), p. 195.Google Scholar
Renzini, A., & Fusi-Pecci, F.F. 1988 ARAA, 26, 199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rich, R.M., Mould, J.R., & Graham, J. 1993, A.J., in press.Google Scholar
Rich, R. M. 1992, in The Center, Bulge, and Disk of the Milky Way Blitz, L., ed. (Reidel: Dordrecht) p. 47.Google Scholar
Rich, R.M. & Mould, J.R. 1991, A.J., 101, 1286.Google Scholar
Rich, R.M. 1990, Ap.J., 362, 604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadler, E., Terndrup, D., & Rich, R.M. 1993, in preparation.Google Scholar
Sellgren, K., McGinn, M.T., Becklin, E.E., & Hall, D.N.B. 1990, Ap.J., 359, 112.Google Scholar
Sellgren, K. 1989, in The Center of the Galaxy, Morris, M., ed., IAU Symp. 136 (Dordrecht:Kluwer) p.477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spaenhauer, A., Jones, B., & Whitford, A.E. 1991, A.J., 103, 297.Google Scholar
Spergel, D., & Blitz, L. 1992, Nature, 357, 665.Google Scholar
Spergel, D. (1992) in The Center, Bulge, and Disk of the Milky Way Blitz, L., ed. (Reidel: Dordrecht) p. 77.Google Scholar
Stebbins, J., & Whitford, A.E. 1947, Ap.J., 106, 235.Google Scholar
van der Veen, W., & Habing, H.J. 1990, Astr. Ap., 231, 404.Google Scholar
van Herk, G. 1965, B.A.N., 18, 71.Google Scholar
van Langevelde, H. 1990, , .Google Scholar
Whitelock, P. & Catchpole, R. 1992, in The Center, Bulge, and Disk of the Milky Way Blitz, L., ed. (Reidel: Dordrecht) p. 103.Google Scholar
Whitelock, P.A., Feast, M.W., & Catchpole, R.M. 1991, M.N.R.A.S., 248, 276.Google Scholar
Wood, P.R., & Bessell, M.S. 1983, Ap.J., 265, 748.Google Scholar
Yamauchi, S. et al. 1991, Ap.J., 365, 532.Google Scholar
Yusef-Zadeh, F., & Morris, M. 1991, Ap.J. (Letters), 371, L59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, H.S., Applegate, J.H., & Rich, R.M. 1993, in preparation.Google Scholar