SF-07-0013

JWST observation toward star-forming clusters in the extreme outer Galaxy

Natsuko Izumi, Michael E. Ressler, Ryan M. Lau, Chikako Yasui, Masao Saito, Naoto Kobayashi, Patrick M. Koch

The extreme outer Galaxy (EOG), which we define as the region with a Galactocentric radius (Rg) of more than 18 kpc, has a very different environment from the Solar neighborhood since it has a much lower gas density, lower metallicity (~ 1 dex), and little perturbation from the spiral arms. The environment is similar to that of nearby dwarf galaxies, damped Lyman-alpha systems, and the early stage of the formation of the Galactic disk. Because of its relative proximity, compared to nearby dwarf galaxies such as the LMC and SMC (about 10 kpc vs. 50 kpc), the EOG serves as an ideal "laboratory" in which to study the details of the star formation process in such environments (Kobayashi et al., 2008). To investigate the detailed properties of star formation, including initial mass function and YSO evolution, in such a primordial environment, we performed NIR-MIR (1.0-20 micron) imaging observation toward two star-forming clusters in the EOG with JWST in January 2023 (PID: 1237). Due to the JWST's excellent capability (high sensitivity and high resolution), we can detect sources down to 8 MJup and distinguish whether stars down to 0.5 Msun still have disks. Therefore, the observation data will enable us to study star- and planet-forming processes in the EOG at the same depth as the Solar neighborhood for the first time. At this conference, we will report the preliminary result of the observation.