Surveying the Giant HII Regions of the Milky Way with SOFIA: IV. Sgr D, W42, and a Reassessment of the Giant HII Region Census

TL;DR

This paper presents infrared imaging data of Sgr D and W42, revises their distances, and updates the census of giant HII regions in the Milky Way, revealing many are closer and less powerful than previously thought.

Contribution

It provides new SOFIA infrared observations and a revised catalog of giant HII regions based on recent distance measurements, challenging previous classifications.

Findings

Sgr D and W42 are closer than previously believed.

14 of 56 surveyed regions are not true giant HII regions.

Sgr D and W42 have distinct properties from other giant HII regions.

Abstract

This is the fourth paper exploring the infrared properties of giant HII regions with the FORCAST instrument on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Our survey utilizes the census of 56 Milky Way giant HII regions identified by Conti & Crowther (2004), and in this paper we present the 20 and 37 micron imaging data we have obtained from SOFIA for sources Sgr D and W42. Based upon the SOFIA data and other multi-wavelength data, we derive and discuss the detailed physical properties of the individual compact sources and sub-regions as well as the large scale properties of Sgr D and W42. However, improved measurements have revealed much closer distances to both regions than previously believed, and consequently both sources are not powerful enough to be considered giant HII regions any longer. Motivated by this, we revisit the census of giant HII regions, performing a search through the last two decades of literature to update each source with the most recent and/or most accurate distance measurements. Based on these new distance estimates, we determine that 14 sources in total (25%) are at sufficiently reliable and closer distances that they are not powerful enough to be considered giant HII regions. We briefly discuss the observational and physical characteristics specific to Sgr D and W42 and show that they have properties distinct from the giant HII regions previously studied as a part of this survey.