The discovery of an embedded cluster of high-mass stars near SGR 1900+14

Deep I-band imaging to I approximate to 26.5 of the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 1900 + 14 region has revealed a compact cluster of massive stars locat ed only a few arcseconds from the fading radio source thought to be the loc ation of the soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR). This cluster was previously hid den in the glare of the pair of M5 supergiant stars (whose light was remove d by point-spread function subtraction) proposed by Vrba et al. as likely a ssociated with SGR 1900 + 14. The cluster has at least 13 members within a cluster radius of approximate to 0.6 pc based on an estimated distance of 1 2-15 kpc. It is remarkably similar to a cluster found associated with SGR 1 806-20. That similar clusters have now been found at or near the positions of the two best studied SGRs suggests that young neutron stars, which are t hought to be responsible for the SGR phenomenon, have their origins in prox imate compact clusters of massive stars.