Unveiling the new generation of stars in NGC 604 with Gemini-NIRI

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared imaging to identify and analyze young stellar objects in NGC 604, revealing ongoing star formation and spatial distribution of star-forming regions in the galaxy.

Contribution

It introduces a new near-infrared observational approach to detect and characterize young stellar populations in NGC 604 with high spatial resolution.

Findings

Identified 68 candidate massive young stellar objects.

Star formation activity is ongoing in NGC 604.

Spatial distribution aligns with previous star formation regions.

Abstract

We present a near infrared study focused on the detection and characterization of the youngest stellar component of the NGC 604 giant star-forming region, in the Triangulum galaxy (M 33). By means of color-color diagrams derived from the photometry of JHKs images taken with Gemini-NIRI, we have found 68 candidate massive young stellar objects. The spatial distribution of these sources matches the areas where previous studies suggested that star formation might be taking place, and the high spatial resolution of our deep NIRI imaging allows to pinpoint the star-forming knots. An analysis of the fraction of objects that show infrared excess suggests that the star formation is still active, supporting the presence of a second generation of stars being born, although the evidence for or against sequential star formation does not seem to be conclusive.