Massive Stars in the Nuclei and Arms of Spirals

2007/12/01 by Fabio Bresolin
Physics and Astronomy · #Abundance (ecology) #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Metallicity #Physics #Spiral galaxy #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supergiant #Wolf–Rayet star #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s1743921308020590

12 pages. Invited review - to appear in "Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines", IAU Symp. 250 (Kauai), ed. F. Bresolin, P. A. Crowther, and J. Puls (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2007/12/01 · arxiv created 2008/05/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Many of the properties of massive stars in external galaxies, such as chemical compositions, mass functions, and ionizing fluxes, can be derived from the study of the associated clouds of ionized gas. Moreover, the signatures of Wolf-Rayet stars are often detected in the spectra of extragalactic H ii regions. This paper reviews some aspects of the recent work on the massive star content of nearby spiral galaxies, as inferred from the analysis of giant H ii regions. Particular attention is given to regions of high metallicity, including nuclear hot spots, and to the chemical abundance comparison between supergiant stars and ionized gas.

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