Speaker
Jay Gallagher
(Dept of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Description
This talk will briefly review patterns of star formation in
NGC 1275, the brightest galaxy in the Perseus cluster. NGC
1275 is of special interest as it contains examples of
unusual modes of star formation in a complex environment.
Young massive star clusters detected via HST UV imaging are
associated with gaseous filaments that
are arrayed over 10s of kpc around the center of the galaxy.
Thus NGC 1275 offers an example of the formation of high
stellar density systems in settings where the
average baryonic densities are low. Due to their regular
spatial structures, these features also allow star formation
to be traced in space and time. A different class
of spatially extended star formation associated with the
spiral galaxy that is falling towards NGC 1275 also was
observed by HST. The young stellar regions in these
tidal debris differ from those associated with the gas
filaments and shells in NGC 1275, and provide an additional
perspective on transitory star formation in a low density
setting.
Primary author
Jay Gallagher
(Dept of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
