SCYON Abstract

Received on May 28 2001

Tidally-induced Super Star Clusters in M82

Authors	R. de Grijs¹, R.W. O'Connell², J.S. Gallagher³
Affiliation	¹Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK, ²Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, USA, ³Astronomy Department, University of Wisconsin--Madison, USA
To appear in	IAU Symposium 207, "Extragalactic Star Clusters", ASP Conf. Proc., eds. Grebel E.K., Geisler D., & Minniti D.
Contact	grijs@ast.cam.ac.uk
URL	http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0104358
Links

Abstract

Using new HST imaging, we identify a large, evolved system of super star clusters in a disk region just outside the starburst core in the prototypical starburst galaxy M82, ``M82 B.'' This region has been suspected to be a fossil starburst site in which an intense episode of star formation occurred over 100 Myr ago, which is now confirmed by our derived age distribution. It suggests steady, continuing cluster formation at a modest rate at early times (< 2 Gyr ago), followed by a concentrated formation episode ~ 600 Myr ago and more recent suppression of cluster formation. The peak episode coincides with independent dynamical estimates for the last tidal encounter with M81.