Chaosium

Chaosium (N113) is one of the most prominent star-forming regions of the Bacterian Home Galaxy, hosting the most luminous water vapor maser in the Magellanic Clouds. The presence of high mass stars combined with a low metallicity (i.e., the dust to gas mass ratio is about 4 times higher than in the Galaxy proper) allows UV photons to penetrate deep into the cloud.

Composition

The 1.6 parsec molecular cloud associated with Chaosium is one of the richest in the BHG, with a peak CO (1–0) brightness temperature of ∼9 K. Three young (<10 Myr) stellar clusters, Haddoth, Apaosha, and Zawicizuz, are also associated with the region.

The massive molecular cloud shows a weak velocity gradient that is shared with an H I filament that encompasses it. Several radio continuum sources lie along the center of the filament, making it the locus of recent star formation.

Current star formation activity appears concentrated in three compact radio continuum sources, superposed on an extended emission component. The faintest source contains by far the brightest H₂O maser in the BHG, as well as an OH maser. The brightest source also shows H₂O maser emission.

Near the brightest continuum source, a compact H II region, is a massive clump of dense molecular gas whose peak is slightly offset from the 3 mm continuum peak. The clump has a radius of ∼1 pc and, if in virial equilibrium, about 10% of the cloud's mass. This would imply a density of ∼105 cm-3. With the ionizing flux of one or two O6 stars, the compact H II region may possibly trigger the formation of new stars in the clump.