Abstract

An interesting candidate for isolated massive star formation in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Romain Selier (Observatoire de Paris)

M. Heydari-Malayeri (Observatoire de Paris) D.A. Gouliermis (MPIA)

Do massive stars form in isolation? Most of the suggested candidates are turned down as runaways from large stellar systems, indicating that possibly the best way to identify a truly isolated massive star is while it forms, when the surrounding gas appears as a compact HII region. In this context we present the first detailed study of the compact HII region SMC-N33 (size : 2.2 pc) . We recently found that this HII region is powered by a single massive star (O6.5-O7 V), which is not related to any star cluster. Specifically, we do not find any traces of clustering around N33 on scales larger than 10'' (~3 pc). We also verify that N33 is not a member of any large stellar association. Under these circumstances, N33 is therefore attractive because it represents a remarkable candidate of isolated massive-star formation in the SMC.

Mode of presentation: poster