Bibcode
DOI
Fuentes-Masip, Oriol; Castañeda, Héctor O.; Muñoz-Tuñón, Casiana
Bibliographical reference
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 119, Issue 5, pp. 2166-2182.
Advertised on:
5
2000
Citations
12
Refereed citations
9
Description
We present a study of the H II regions in the central area of the giant
irregular galaxy NGC 4449 based on observations taken on the William
Herschel Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory with the
Taurus II Fabry-Perot interferometer in the emission lines of Hα
and [O III] 5006.8. We show that the usual methods of determining sizes
of H II regions are not valid in this galaxy because of the high surface
density of nebulae and the presence of an intense diffuse luminosity
over NGC 4449, so it has been necessary to develop a new method. The
procedure we have used allows integrated parameters of H II regions
(radius, luminosity, radial velocity, and velocity dispersion) to be
obtained with greater objectivity and precision than with other methods.
The technique proposed here can be extended to parameterize giant H II
regions in galaxies in general and to resolve the problem of the large
uncertainties associated with previous methods in characterizing
star-forming regions in Magellanic irregular galaxies.