O and B type stars in W3: first results

With 79 new spectral classifications, we bring the total number of spectroscopically confirmed O- and B-type stars in W3 to 105. We find that the high-mass slope of the mass function in W3 is consistent with a Salpeter IMF, and that the extinction toward the region is best characterized by an R_V_ of approximately 3.6.

B-type stars are found to be more widely dispersed across the W3 giant molecular cloud (GMC) than previously realized: they are not confined to the high-density layer (HDL) created by the expansion of the neighboring W4 H ii region into the GMC. This broader B-type population suggests that star formation in W3 began spontaneously up to 8-10 Myr ago, although at a lower level than the more recent star formation episodes in the HDL.