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Schematic structure of the starburst galaxies NGC 3310 (left) and NGC 3690 (right) as seen in the ultraviolet (2300Å2300Å) by the Faint Object Camera on HST (M95). The dots and crosses mark star clusters, with size indicating brightness. Isophotes show the distribution of diffuse light (after all clusters and their PSF halos are subtracted). The images have been rectified and oriented with north up, and east on the left. The distorted edges and occulting fingers of FOC are outlined. The two arcsec tick marks on the axis correspond to 175 pc and 430 pc for NGC 3310 and NGC 3690 respectively.

Schematic structure of the starburst galaxies NGC 3310 (left) and NGC 3690 (right) as seen in the ultraviolet (2300Å2300Å) by the Faint Object Camera on HST (M95). The dots and crosses mark star clusters, with size indicating brightness. Isophotes show the distribution of diffuse light (after all clusters and their PSF halos are subtracted). The images have been rectified and oriented with north up, and east on the left. The distorted edges and occulting fingers of FOC are outlined. The two arcsec tick marks on the axis correspond to 175 pc and 430 pc for NGC 3310 and NGC 3690 respectively.

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The duration of starbursts is important for determining how they are regulated and the impact they have on their environment. Starbursts contain numerous prominent star clusters which typically comprise in total ~20% of the ultraviolet light, embedded in a diffuse glow of recently formed stars responsible for the dominant ~80%. Hubble Space Telesco...

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... (UV) images of starburst galax- ies with the Faint Object Camera imaging at λ ≈ 2300Å2300Å in order to examine the distribution of high mass stars which power starbursts. The results of our imaging study are given in Meurer et al. (1995;hereafter M95). The UV struc- ture of starbursts is well exemplified by NGC 3310 and NGC 3690 as shown in Fig. 1. Immediately striking are numerous prominent and compact star clusters. However, the total UV emission is dominated by a diffuse distribution of stars. Typically, this amounts to about 80% of the UV light within starbursts (M95). The nearest starbursts in our sample start to resolve into individual high mass stars which trace the ...

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