Nuclear Star Clusters across the Hubble Sequence
arXiv:0708.1093 · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3400-7_19
Abstract
Over the last decade, HST imaging studies have revealed that the centers of most galaxies are occupied by compact, barely resolved sources. Based on their structural properties, position in the fundamental plane, and spectra, these sources clearly have a stellar origin. They are therefore called ``nuclear star clusters'' (NCs) or ``stellar nuclei''. NCs are found in galaxies of all Hubble types, suggesting that their formation is intricately linked to galaxy evolution. In this contribution, I briefly review the results from recent studies of NCs, touch on some ideas for their formation, and mention some open issues related to the possible connection between NCs and supermassive black holes.
6 page conference proceedings, to appear in "The impact of HST on European Astronomy" (41st ESLAB Symposium), pdflatex file, uses svmult.cls (included)
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