JWST View of the Supernebula in NGC 5253. II. Nebular Lines

TL;DR

This study uses JWST's MIRI/MRS instrument to analyze over 70 emission lines in the supernebula of NGC 5253, revealing insights into its nebular conditions, extinction, and photon escape despite high dust obscuration.

Contribution

First detailed JWST MIRI/MRS spectral analysis of the supernebula in NGC 5253, identifying emission lines and nebular properties in the mid-infrared range.

Findings

High excitation lines indicate very massive, young stars.

Extinction is nearly wavelength-independent across 5-25μm.

Photon escape occurs despite high dust extinction.

Abstract

The nearby dwarf starburst NGC 5253 is dominated by a compact radio-infrared supernebula powered by a very young and bright embedded Super Star Cluster (SSC) of $\sim 10^9 L_\odot$. We observed this source and its surroundings over the 5-25$\mu$m range with MIRI/MRS on JWST and in Paper I presented the JWST view of the region and its continuum features. We now present the more than 70 emission lines of HI, $H_2$ and metal ions detected by MIRI/MRS. We derive the extinction by comparing HI recombination to the free-free radio continuum and find that it is very flat, i.e., almost independent of wavelength, over this spectral range. Nebular conditions are consistent with young ($\lesssim5\times10^6$ years) and very massive stars. All regions show high excitation, but the spatial distribution of the high excitation lines suggests that photons with energies close to 50eV are escaping the supernebula core in spite of 35 magnitudes of visual extinction.