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Paper: Extreme Outer Galaxy: A Laboratory of Star Formation in an Early Epoch of the Galaxy’s Formation
Volume: 399, Panoramic Views of Galaxy Formation and Evolution
Page: 481
Authors: Yasui, C.; Kobayashi, N.; Tokunaga, A.T.; Saito, M.
Abstract: The extreme outer Galaxy (EOG) has a very different environment from that in the solar neighborhood, and is an excellent laboratory for the study of the star formation processes that happened during the formation period of the Galaxy. In particular, the study of the EOG may shed light on the origin and role of the thick disk, whose metallicity range matches well with that of the EOG. Through a detailed near-infrared (NIR) study of Cloud 2, one of the most distant star-forming regions in the EOG, we show that key star-formation items, such as the initial mass function (IMF) and star-formation efficiency, in such a potentially “primordial” environment can be studied in detail. We are continuing a detailed study of a number of star-forming regions in the EOG, mostly with wide-field NIR imaging using Subaru Telescope. It turns out that NIR imaging is the most efficient way to find star formation activity in such distant regions.
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