H-II REGIONS IN 4 GALAXIES IN AND NEAR THE LOCAL GROUP

We present identifications, fluxes, and sizes for H II regions in thre e galaxies that are in or near the Local Group: WLM, UGC A86, and EGB 0427+63. A deep search for H II regions in a fourth galaxy, LGS 3, pro duced a negative result. Our results for UGC A86 indicate that, contra ry to a previous suggestion, it is a single galaxy. Its disjointed app earance in broadband images apparently is caused by the presence of se veral star-forming regions of different ages. Our data, together with other information about it, especially its radial velocity, also sugge st that this object is beyond the limits of the Local Group. The H II regions of the three galaxies in which they were detected show normal luminosity functions that fit power laws and normal size distributions that are reasonably well fitted by an exponential function. The calcu lated star formation rates range from zero for LGS 3 to 0.014 M. yr(-1 ) for UGC A86. Emission-line spectra of seven H II regions in the thre e galaxies allow abundances to be determined. We find that all are low in heavy elements, with mean values for O/H of approximately 7% solar .