MASGOMAS project: Two new obscured, massive and young Galactic clusters

Ramírez-Alegría, S. A.; Herrero, A.; Marín-Franch, A.
Referencia bibliográfica

Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VII, Proceedings of the X Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA), held in Valencia, July 9 - 13, 2012, Eds.: J.C. Guirado, L.M. Lara, V. Quilis, and J. Gorgas., pp.606-611

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5
2013
Número de autores
3
Número de autores del IAC
2
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
We present two new massive clusters, discovered during the second phase of our MASGOMAS project (MAssive Stars in Galactic Obscured MAssive clusterS). The second phase of the project focuses on a systematic search of OB-type star candidates over-densities. We also present new near-infrared photometry (J, H, and K_S) and mid-resolution follow-up spectroscopy (H and K), obtained with LIRIS at ORM (La Palma), for the stellar content of the new massive clusters. With these data we have confirmed that Masgomas-1, the first candidate discovered by us, is a young and massive cluster, probably exceeding 10^4 {M}_{&sun;}, which hosts both an OB-type and an RSG populations. We have also determined the cluster distance and extinction, placing it in the Scutum-Centaurus arm, but far from the arm base (where RSGC1, RSGC2, RSGC3, Alicante 8 and Alicante 10 clusters are located), and closer to the Sun. For our second new massive cluster candidate (Masgomas-4), we have spectroscopically confirmed the presence of a massive stellar population, and photometrically detected a group of massive pre-stellar objects (Herbig Ae/Be candidates). With the estimated individual distances for the cluster massive stars, we have derived a single distance for both cores, confirming that Masgomas-4 is a single young cluster.