Current Hubble Space Telescope projects

Using the superb resolving power of the Hubble Space Telescope, our research team (Principal Investigator: M. Heydari-Malayeri) is studying massive star formation and its interplay with the surrounding interstellar medium on a sample of high excitation ``blobs'' (HEBs), a rare class of compact H II regions in the Magellanic Clouds. Contrary to the typical H II regions in these galaxies which are extended structures with sizes greater than 50pc, the compact H II blobs are an order of magnitude smaller, having diameters of less than about 3 pc. HEBs are probably the final stages in the evolution of the ultra-compact H II regions, whose Galactic counterparts are detected only at infrared and radio wavelengths. The sub-solar metallicity of the Small and Large Magellanic Cloud in conjunction with their location (being nearby and not affected by extinction due to the Galactic disk) make the detailed study of their HEBs an excellent template for the understanding of star formation in low metallicity high-Z galaxies.

A finder chart for the location of the HEBs we observed in the LMC is available here, while the ones in the SMC can be seen here. Our findings on the individual regions are described in the following dedicated web pages:

LMC ``blobs'' in N160A

LMC ``blob'' N11A

LMC ``blob'' N83B

LMC ``blob'' N159-5: The Papillon Nebula

SMC ``blob'' N88A

SMC ``blob'' N81

For a synopsis of the results see: Charmandaris et al., HST imaging and spectroscopy of compact H II regions in the Magellanic Clouds: Revealing the youngest massive star clusters, 199th AAS Meeting, Session "H II Regions", Poster [124.05], Thursday, January 10, 2002.

Contact M. Heydari-Malayeri Observatoire de Paris LERMA Last update 08 February 2007
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