SOAR-OSIRIS observations of the Sh 2-307 HII region: Triggered star formation beyond the solar circle

TL;DR

This study investigates the Sh 2-307 HII region using near-infrared observations, revealing a young, distant stellar cluster with evidence of triggered star formation caused by an O-type star.

Contribution

First detailed near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of Sh 2-307, establishing its distance, stellar population age, and evidence for triggered star formation beyond the solar circle.

Findings

Cluster is over 10 kpc from Galactic center.

HII region has a diameter of ~0.94 pc and an age of ~1.6 Myears.

Evidence suggests star formation was triggered by the O-type star.

Abstract

This work aims to the study of the Sh 2-307 HII region and related stellar population. Near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations in the direction of Sh 2-307 were performed using OSIRIS at SOAR Telescope. From J-, H- and K-band spectra of the brightest source in the cluster, we conclude that it has a near-infrared spectra compatible with that taken for O9v-O9.5v stars. Using the derived spectral type and the respective J, H and K-band photometry, we compute a heliocentric distance of 3.2(0.5) kpc, which for R0 = 8 kpc, puts this cluster at more than 10 kpc from the Galactic centre. From the Brg, H2, and continuum narrow-band images we were able to detect both the NIR counterpart of the associated HII region, as well as, the interface between the ionised and the cool molecular gas. Using the 5 Ghz continuum flux density taken from the PMN catalogue and the Brg narrow band image we estimate that the HII region has a mean diameter of 0.94(0.15) pc, mean electron density of 550 cm-3 and an estimated dynamical age of 1.6 Myears years. The large fraction of sources presenting excess emission at 2micron suggests that the stellar population is very young, with many sources still in the pre-main sequence accreting phase. By the use of theoretical pre-main sequence tracks we derived a cluster mean age of about 2.5 Myears, and from the analyses of the fraction of excess emission sources as a function of their spatial distribution we found evidence for an age spread for the embedded pre-main sequence stellar population. Finally, from the study of the spatial distribution of the low-mass sources relative to the main-cluster source and associated photo-dissociation zones, we conclude that the O-type star probably has been triggering the star formation process in the region.