NGC 247 young stellar population

We detect 339 young star groups, for which we compute a mean radius of ~60pc and a maximum size distribution between 30 and 70pc. We also obtain LF slopes with a bimodal distribution showing peaks at ~0.1 and ~0.2. We identify several candidates for HII regions that follow an excellent spatial correlation with the young groups found by the PLC.

We observe that the young populations are hierarchically organized, wherein the smaller and denser structures are within larger and less dense structures. We notice that all these groups present a fractal subclustering, following the hierarchical distribution observed in the corresponding stellar density map. For the large young structures observed in this map, we obtain a fractal dimension of ~1.6-1.8 using the perimeter-area relation and cumulative size distribution.

These values are consistent with a scenario of hierarchical star formation.