Related papers: Two O2 If*/WN6 stars possibly ejected from the mas…

We report the discovery of an extraordinarily massive young cluster of stars in the Galaxy, having an inferred total initial cluster mass comparable to the most massive young clusters in the Galaxy. Using {\it IRMOS}, {\it 2MASS}, and {\it…

With a dynamical mass M_dyn ~ 1.3x10e5 M_sun and a lower limit M_cl>5x10e4 M_sun from star counts, Westerlund 1 is the most massive young open cluster known in the Galaxy and thus the perfect laboratory to study massive star evolution. We…

Previous radio and infrared observations have revealed an obscured region of high-mass star formation in Cygnus known as Onsala 2 (ON 2). Within this region lies the optically-revealed young stellar cluster Berkeley 87 which contains…

Context The ESO Public Survey VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) provides deep multi-epoch infrared observations for an unprecedented 562 sq. degrees of the Galactic bulge and adjacent regions of the disk. Nearly 150 new open…

In this paper I report the discovery of an O2If*/WN6 star probably still partially embedded in its parental cocoon in the star-burst cluster NGC 3603. From the observed size of the associated compact Hii region, it was possible to derive a…

I present light curves for two detached eclipsing binary stars in the region of the LMC cluster NGC 1850, which is possibly a young globular cluster still in formation. One, a likely spectral type O star, is a newly detected eclipsing…

The Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) is the nearest region of massive star formation and thus a crucial testing ground for theoretical models. Of particular interest amongst the ONC's ~1000 members are: \theta^1 Ori C, the most massive binary in…

Context: The ESO Public Survey "VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea" (VVV) provides deep multi-epoch infrared observations for an unprecedented 562 sq. degrees of the Galactic bulge, and adjacent regions of the disk. In this survey nearly…

A collision between two molecular clouds is one possible candidate for high-mass star formation. The HII region RCW 36, located in the Vela molecular ridge, contains a young star cluster with two O-type stars. We present new CO observations…

We report the discovery of two new Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxies: Mrk~1039, and F08208$+$2816. Two broad WR bumps at 5808\AA~ and 4650\AA~ indicate the presence of WCE and WNL star population in all two sources. We also confirm the presenceof WR…

The WN3/O3 Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars were discovered as part of our survey for WRs in the Magellanic Clouds. The WN3/O3s show the emission lines of a high-excitation WN star and the absorption lines of a hot O-type star, but our prior work has…

We obtained K-band spectroscopy of the brightest members of the cluster VVV CL074 in order to identify the massive star population. We also determined the stellar properties of the cluster's massive stars to better quantify the evolutionary…

Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) star membership of star forming regions can be used to constrain the formation environments of massive stars. Here, we utilise $\textit{Gaia}$ DR2 parallaxes and proper motions to reconsider WR star membership of…

The massive red supergiant (RSG) W26 in Westerlund 1 is one of a growing number of RSGs shown to have winds that are ionized from the outside in. The fate of this dense wind material is important for models of second generation star…

Using {\it Gaia} Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) parallaxes and Bayesian inference, we infer a parallax of the Westerlund 1 (Wd1) cluster. We find a parallax of $0.34\pm{0.05}$ mas corresponding to a distance of $2.8^{+0.7}_{-0.6}$ kpc. The new…

Galactic, young massive star clusters are approximately coeval aggregates of stars, close enough to resolve the individual stars, massive enough to have produced large numbers of massive stars, and young enough for these stars to be in a…

We have discovered remarkable jet- and arc-like molecular features toward the rich and young stellar cluster Westerlund2. The jet has a length of ~100 pc and a width of ~10 pc, while the arc shows a crescent shape with a radius of ~30 pc.…

The census of massive clusters of galaxies in the local Universe is almost complete, thanks to their prominent observational signatures at X-ray, optical, and sub-mm wavelengths. Nevertheless, a number of such systems are likely to be…

Young massive stars and stellar clusters continuously form in the Galactic disk, generating new HII regions within their natal giant molecular clouds and subsequently enriching the interstellar medium via their winds and supernovae. Massive…

Previously unrecognized weak emission lines originating from high excitation states of Si II (12.84 eV) and Al II (13.08 eV) are detected in the red region spectra of slowly rotating early B-type stars. We surveyed high resolution spectra…