The structure and physical conditions characterizing the emission-line galaxy He 2-10

Direct plates taken through interference (Halpha+[N II] and [O III]) and broad band (B, R) filters at the prime focus of the ESO 3.6 m telescope reveal the structure of the emission-line galaxy He 2-10. The authors confirm that the broad emission band at lambda4660 Å first reported by Allen et al. (1976) essentially originates from the bright central nucleus. They estimate that the number of Wolf-Rayet (WC+WN) stars contributing to this feature is approximately 3.3×10[SUP]3[/SUP] and that the number of early-type stars (mainly O-type) necessary to account for the observed ionization of the emitting gas is of the same order. This result is compared to the stellar content derived for a few other galaxies and giant H II regions known to contain a large population of Wolf-Rayet stars.