We have analyzed two epochs of HST/WFPC2 observations of the young Galactic starburst cluster in NGC 3603 with the aim to study its internal dynamics and stellar population. Relative proper motions measured over 10.15 yrs of more than 800 stars enable us to distinguish cluster members from field stars. The best-fitting isochrone yields A V =4.6-4.7 mag, a distance of 6.6-6.9 kpc, and an age of 1 Myr for NGC 3603 Young Cluster (NYC). We identify pre-main-sequence/main-sequence transition stars located in the short-lived radiative-convective gap, which in the NYC occurs in the mass range 3.5-3.8 M ⊙ . We also identify a sparse population of stars with an age of 4 Myr, which appear to be the lower mass counterparts to previously discovered blue supergiants located in the giant H II region NGC 3603. For the first time, we are able to measure the internal velocity dispersion of a starburst cluster from 234 stars with I < 18.5 mag to σ pm1D = 141 ± 27µas yr −1 (4.5 ± 0.8 km s −1 at a distance of 6.75 kpc). As stars with masses between 1.7 and 9 M ⊙ all exhibit the same velocity dispersion, the cluster stars have not yet reached equipartition of kinetic energy (i.e., the cluster is not in virial equilibrium). The results highlight the power of combining high-precision astrometry and photometry, and emphasize the role of NYC as a benchmark object for testing stellar evolution models and dynamical models for young clusters and as a template for extragalactic starburst clusters.

We present a new method to determine the age spread of resolved stellar populations in a starburst cluster. The method relies on a two-step process. In the first step, kinematic members of the cluster are identified based on multi-epoch astrometric monitoring. In the second step, a Bayesian analysis is carried out, comparing the observed photometric sequence of cluster members with sets of theoretical isochrones. When applying this methodology to optical and near-infrared high angular resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and adaptive optics observations of the ∼5 Myr old starburst cluster Westerlund 1 and ∼2 Myr old starburst cluster NGC 3603 YC, we derive upper limits for the age spreads of 0.4 and 0.1 Myr, respectively. The results strongly suggest that star formation in these starburst clusters happened almost instantaneously.

We present near-infrared multi-object spectroscopy and JHK s imaging of the massive stellar content of the Galactic star-forming region W3 Main, obtained with LUCI at the Large Binocular Telescope. We confirm 15 OB stars in W3 Main and derive spectral types between O5V and B4V from their absorption line spectra. Three massive Young Stellar Objects are identified by their emission line spectra and near-infrared excess. The color-color diagram of the detected sources allows a detailed investigation of the slope of the near-infrared extinction law towards W3 Main. Analysis of the Hertzsprung Russell diagram suggests that the Nishiyama extinction law fits the stellar population of W3 Main best (E(J −H)/E(H −K s ) = 1.76 and R Ks = 1.44). From our spectrophotometric analysis of the massive stars and the nature of their surrounding Hii regions we derive the evolutionary sequence of W3 Main and we find evidence of an age spread of at least 2-3 Myr. While the most massive star (IRS2) is already evolved, indications for high-mass pre-main-sequence evolution is found for another star (IRS N1), deeply embedded in an ultra compact Hii region, in line with the different evolutionary phases observed in the corresponding Hii regions. We derive a stellar mass of W3 Main of (4 ± 1) × 10 3 M ⊙ , by extrapolating from the number of OB stars using a Kroupa IMF and correcting for our spectroscopic incompleteness. We have detected the photospheres of OB stars from the more evolved diffuse Hii region to the much younger UCHii regions, suggesting that these stars have finished their formation and cleared away their circumstellar disks very fast. Only in the hyper-compact Hii region (IRS5), the early type stars seem to be still surrounded by circumstellar material.

Stars in their late stage of evolution, such as horizontal branch stars, are still largely unexplored for planets. We detected a planetary companion around HIP 13044, a very metal-poor star on the red horizontal branch, on the basis of radial velocity observations with a high-resolution spectrograph at the 2.2-meter Max-Planck Gesellschaft-European Southern Observatory telescope. The star's periodic radial velocity variation of P = 16.2 days caused by the planet can be distinguished from the periods of the stellar activity indicators. The minimum mass of the planet is 1.25 times the mass of Jupiter and its orbital semimajor axis is 0.116 astronomical units. Because HIP 13044 belongs to a group of stars that have been accreted from a disrupted satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the planet most likely has an extragalactic origin.

Context. Embedded clusters like W3 Main are complex and dynamically evolving systems that represent an important phase in the star formation process. Aims. We aim to characterize of the entire stellar content of W3 Main in a statistical sense, which will then identify possible differences in the evolutionary phase of the stellar populations and find clues about the formation mechanism of this massive embedded cluster. Methods. Deep JHK s imaging is used to derive the disk fraction, K s -band luminosity functions, and mass functions for several subregions in W3 Main. A two-dimensional completeness analysis using artificial star experiments is applied as a crucial ingredient for assessing realistic completeness limits for our photometry. Results. We find an overall disk fraction of 7.7 ± 2.3%, radially varying from 9.4 ± 3.0% in the central 1 pc to 5.6 ± 2.2% in the outer parts of W3 Main. The mass functions derived for three subregions are consistent with a Kroupa and Chabrier mass function. The mass function of IRSN3 is complete down to 0.14 M and shows a break at M ∼ 0.5 M . Conclusions. We interpret the higher disk fraction in the center as evidence that the cluster center is younger. We find that the evolutionary sequence observed in the low-mass stellar population is consistent with the observed age spread among the massive stars. An analysis of the mass function variations does not show evidence of mass segregation. W3 Main is currently still actively forming stars, showing that the ionizing feedback of OB stars is confined to small areas (∼0.5 pc). The FUV feedback might be influencing large regions of the cluster as suggested by the low overall disk fraction.