The origin of massive O-type field stars *,**
I. A search for clusters
1
INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Florence, Italy e-mail: dewit@arcetri.astro.it
2
ESO, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Santiago, Chile
3
Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
Received:
16
March
2004
Accepted:
12
May
2004
We present a study aimed at clarifying the birthplace for 43 massive O-type field stars. In this first paper we present the observational part: a search for stellar clusters near the target stars. We derive stellar density maps at two different resolving scales, viz. ~0.25 pc and ~1.0 pc from NTT and TNG imaging and the 2MASS catalogue. These scales are typical for cluster sizes. The main result is that the large majority of the O-type field population are isolated stars: only 12% (5 out of 43) of the O-type field stars is found to harbour a small-scale stellar cluster. We review the literature and aim at characterizing the stellar field of each O-type field star with the emphasis on star formation and the presence of known young stellar clusters. An analysis of the result of this paper and a discussion of the O-type field population as products of a dynamical ejection event is presented in an accompanying paper.
Key words: stars: early-type / stars: formation
Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile, and at the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Centro Galileo Galilei of the CNAA (Consorzio Nazionale per l'Astronomia e l'Astrofisica) at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.
© ESO, 2004