Observations of stellar objects at a shell boundary in the star-forming complex in the galaxy IC 1613

The single region of ongoing star formation in the galaxy IC 1613 has been observed in order to reveal the nature of compact emission-line objects at the edges of two shells in the complex, identified earlier in Ha line images. The continuum images show these compact objects to be stars. Detailed spectroscopic observations of these stars and the surrounding nebulae were carried out with an MPFS spectrograph mounted on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. The resulting stellar spectra were used to determine the spectral types and luminosity classes of the objects. Of star we identified the only object of this spectral type in IC 1613. The results of optical observations of the multishell complex are compared to 21-cm radio observations. The shells harboring the stars at their boundaries constitute the most active part of the star-forming region. There is evidence that shocks have played an important role in the formation of the shells. (C) 2002 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".