GOALS-JWST: NIRCam and MIRI Imaging of the Circumnuclear Starburst Ring in NGC 7469

Thomas Bohn, Hanae Inami, Tanio Diaz-Santos, Lee Armus, S. T. Linden, U. Vivian, Jason Surace, Kirsten L. Larson, Aaron S. Evans, Shunshi Hoshioka, Thomas Lai, Yiqing Song, Joseph M. Mazzarella, Loreto Barcos-Munoz, Vassilis Charmandaris, Justin H. Howell, Anne M. Medling, George C. Privon, Jeffrey A. Rich, Sabrina StierwaltSusanne Aalto, Torsten Böker, Michael J.I. Brown, Kazushi Iwasawa, Matthew A. Malkan, Paul P. van der Werf, Philip Appleton, Christopher C. Hayward, Francisca Kemper, David Law, Jason Marshall, Eric J. Murphy, David Sanders

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9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imaging of NGC 7469 with the Near-Infrared Camera and the Mid-InfraRed Instrument. NGC 7469 is a nearby, z = 0.01627, luminous infrared galaxy that hosts both a Seyfert Type-1.5 nucleus and a circumnuclear starburst ring with a radius of ∼0.5 kpc. The new near-infrared (NIR) JWST imaging reveals 66 star-forming regions, 37 of which were not detected by Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. Twenty-eight of the 37 sources have very red NIR colors that indicate obscurations up to A v ∼ 7 and a contribution of at least 25% from hot dust emission to the 4.4 μm band. Their NIR colors are also consistent with young (<5 Myr) stellar populations and more than half of them are coincident with the mid-infrared (MIR) emission peaks. These younger, dusty star-forming regions account for ∼6% and ∼17% of the total 1.5 and 4.4 μm luminosity of the starburst ring, respectively. Thanks to JWST, we find a significant number of young dusty sources that were previously unseen due to dust extinction. The newly identified 28 young sources are a significant increase compared to the number of HST-detected young sources (4-5). This makes the total percentage of the young population rise from ∼15% to 48%. These results illustrate the effectiveness of JWST in identifying and characterizing previously hidden star formation in the densest star-forming environments around active galactic nuclei (AGN).

Original languageEnglish
Article numberL36
Number of pages8
JournalThe Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume942
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2023
  • ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions

    Kewley, L. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Stuart B Wyithe, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Sadler, E. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Staveley-Smith, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Glazebrook, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Jackson, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Bland-Hawthorn, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Asplund, M. B. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Trott, C. M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Webster, R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), trenti, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Colless, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Croom, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Ryan-Weber, E. V. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Power, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Croton, D. J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Driver, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Abraham, R. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Ball, L. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Bunker, A. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Couch, W. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Dalcanton, J. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Davies, R. L. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Gaensler, B. M. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Hopkins, A. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Kirby, E. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Koribalski, B. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Li, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Christopher Martin, D. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Morales, M. F. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Morganti, R. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Springel, V. (Partner Investigator (PI)), Wise, M. W. (Partner Investigator (PI)) & Karakas, A. (Chief Investigator (CI))

    Monash University – Internal Faculty Contribution

    30/06/1731/12/24

    Project: Research

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