The G305 star-forming complex : the central star clusters Danks 1 and Danks 2
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Author
Davies, B.
Clark, J.S.
Trombley, C.
Figer, D. F.
Najarro, F.
Crowther, P.A.
Kudritzki, R.P.
Thompson, M.
Urquhart, J.S.
Hindson, Luke
Attention
2299/7855
Abstract
The G305 H ii complex (G305.4+0.1) is one of the most massive star-forming structures yet identified within the Galaxy. It is host to many massive stars at all stages of formation and evolution, from embedded molecular cores to post-main-sequence stars. Here, we present a detailed near-infrared analysis of the two central star clusters Danks 1 and Danks 2, using Hubble Space Telescope+NICMOS imaging and Very Large Telescope+ISAAC spectroscopy. We find that the spectrophotometric distance to the clusters is consistent with the kinematic distance to the G305 complex, an average of all measurements giving a distance of 3.8 ± 0.6 kpc