This complex is located near the galactic plane along the Carina arm of the Milky Way galaxy.[3] It is approximately 100 light years across and is located near the Eta Carinae nebula,[6] forming the western section of RCW 57.[7] NGC 3576 consists of a giant, star-forming molecular cloud with a luminous H II region positioned just outside.[8] In the infrared, this is one of the brightest H II regions in the galaxy.[9] It is expanding into the molecular cloud and appears to be triggering further star formation.[10] Most of the ionization is believed to be due to two O-type stars, HD97319 and HD97484, and two B-type stars, HD97499 and CPD–60◦2641.[7]
Many of the brightest stars in this formation are still enshrouded in their natal cocoons of gas and dust.[3] A majority of the stars display an infrared excess from the surrounding circumstellar disks.[3] Star formation appears to be progressing in a direction from the northeast to the southwest, with the youngest stars in the latter locale.[3] A very young cluster of massive stars with 130 identified members is embedded deep within the molecular cloud.[2]
Gallery
The location of NGC 3576 (circled in red)
NGC 3576 in Hubble Palette by amateur astronomer Mark Johnston
1234Persi, P.; etal. (February 1994). "The young stellar population associated with the HII region NGC 3576". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 282: 474–484. Bibcode:1994A&A...282..474P.
1234567Damineli, A.; etal. (October 2002). Crowther, Paul A. (ed.). "The Stellar Population of NGC 3576". Hot Star Workshop III: The Earliest Stages of Massive Star Birth. ASP Conference Proceedings. 267. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific: 359. Bibcode:2002ASPC..267..359D. ISBN1-58381-107-9.
12García-Rojas, Jorge; etal. (August 2004). "Chemical Abundances of the Galactic H II Region NGC 3576 Derived from Very Large Telescope Echelle Spectrophotometry". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 153 (2): 501–522. arXiv:astro-ph/0404123. Bibcode:2004ApJS..153..501G. doi:10.1086/421909.
↑Persi, P.; etal. (1987). Appenzeller, I.; Jordan, C. (eds.). "Star formation in the southern complex region NGC 3576". Circumstellar Matter, Proceedings of the 122nd Symposium of the IAU Held in Heidelberg, F.R.G., June 23-27, 1986. 122: 93–94. Bibcode:1987IAUS..122...93P.
Shih, Y. H.; etal. (August 2009). "Near Infrared Polarimetric Imaging of the Giant H II region NGC 3576". In Soonthornthum, B.; etal. (eds.). The Eighth Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics: A Tribute to Kam-Ching Leung. ASP Conference Series. Vol.404. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific. p.27. Bibcode:2009ASPC..404...27S.
Barbosa, C. L. D. R.; Damineli, A.; Blum, R. D.; Conti, P. S. (2003). "NGC 3576 IRS 1 in the Mid Infrared". In De Buizer, James M.; van der Bliek, Nicole S. (eds.). Galactic Star Formation Across the Stellar Mass Spectrum. ASP Conference Series. Vol.287. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific. pp.225–229. arXiv:astro-ph/0208331. Bibcode:2003ASPC..287..225B. ISBN1-58381-130-3.
Boreiko, R. T.; Betz, A. L. (August 1997). "Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of C II and High-J CO Emission from Warm Molecular Gas in NGC 3576". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 111 (2): 409–417. Bibcode:1997ApJS..111..409B. doi:10.1086/313026.
