We have obtained 1–2 ? resolution optical echellette spectra of the nuclear star cluster in the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 4449. The light is clearly dominated by a very young (6–10 Myr) population of stars. For our age dating, we have used recent population synthesis models to interpret the observed equivalent width of stellar absorption features such as the H I Balmer series and the Ca II triplet around 8500 ?. We also compare the observed spectrum of the nuclear cluster with synthesized spectra for stellar populations of varying ages. All these approaches yield a consistent cluster age. Metallicity estimates based on the relative intensities of various ionization lines yield no evidence for significant enrichment in the center of this low-mass galaxy: the metallicity of the nuclear cluster is about one-fourth of the solar value, in agreement with independent estimates for the disk material of NGC 4449.
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机译:我们获得了1-2。附近星爆星系NGC 4449中的核恒星团的高分辨率光学小阶梯光谱。光显然是由非常年轻的(6-10 Myr)恒星群主导的。对于我们的年龄约会,我们使用了最近的种群综合模型来解释恒星吸收特征的等效宽度,例如H I Balmer系列和8500左右的Ca II三重态。我们还将观察到的核簇光谱与不同年龄的恒星种群的合成光谱进行比较。所有这些方法产生一致的簇龄。根据各种电离线的相对强度进行的金属度估算没有证据表明在该低质量星系的中心有明显的富集:核团的金属度约为太阳值的四分之一,这与对原子团的独立估算相符。 NGC 4449的磁盘材料。
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