We present a spectroscopic study of the N159/N160 massive-star forming region south of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud, classifying a total of 189 stars in the field of the complex. Most of them belong to O and early B spectral classes; we have also found some uncommon and very interesting spectra, including members of the Onfp class, a Be P Cygni star, and some possible multiple systems. Using spectral types as broad indicators of evolutionary stages, we considered the evolutionary status of the region as a whole. We infer that massive stars at different evolutionary stages are present throughout the region, favoring the idea of a common time for the origin of recent star formation in the N159/N160 complex as a whole, while sequential star formation at different rates is probably present in several subregions.
@article{arxiv.0907.1033,
title = {Spectroscopic study of the N159/N160 complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud},
author = {Cecilia Fariña and Guillermo L. Bosch and Nidia I. Morrell and Rodolfo H. Barbá and Nolan R. Walborn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0907.1033},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
36 pages, 24 figures (127 spectra mostly OB stars, 4 field images). Published in The Astronomical Journal