This complex is located near thegalactic plane along theCarina arm of theMilky Way galaxy.[3] It is approximately 100light years across and is located near theEta Carinae nebula,[6] forming the western section of RCW 57.[7] NGC 3576 consists of a giant, star-formingmolecular cloud with a luminousH 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 twoO-type stars, HD 97319 and HD 97484, and twoB-type stars, HD 97499 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]
^abcdPersi, P.; et al. (February 1994). "The young stellar population associated with the HII region NGC 3576".Astronomy and Astrophysics.282:474–484.Bibcode:1994A&A...282..474P.
^abcdefgDamineli, A.; et al. (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.
^abGarcía-Rojas, Jorge; et al. (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.; et al. (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.; et al. (August 2009). "Near Infrared Polarimetric Imaging of the Giant H II region NGC 3576". In Soonthornthum, B.; et al. (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.
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