H II regions and star formation in the Magellanic Clouds

Abstract

Photoelectrically calibrated maps of the H-alpha emission in the Magellanic Clouds have been used to measure integrated fluxes for several hundred H II regions and to study the properties of the H II region populations in the galaxies. The H II regions span a range of 10,000 in luminosity, from objects on the scale of the Orion Nebula to the 30 Doradus complex. The H-alpha luminosity function is well represented over this entire range by a power law function, indicating that there is no characteristic luminosity scale for the H II regions. The distributions of nebular diameters, on the other hand, are fitted well by exponential functions, with a scale length of 80 pc. Approximate fluxes for several of the extended filamentary networks in the galaxies have also been measured. This extended component probability contributes 15-25 percent of the total H-alpha luminosity of the galaxies.