2024ApJ...974..297D

We analyze data from the IRAS, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, and Planck satellites, revealing an unresolved dust condensation at the center of the Fourcade-Figueroa galaxy (ESO270-G017), which may correspond to a forming nucleus. We model the condensation's continuum spectrum in the spectral range from 3 to 1300 μm using the DUSTY code. The best-fit model, based on the chi-square test, indicates that the condensation is a shell with an outer temperature of T_out ≈ 12 K and an inner boundary temperature of T_i ≈ 500 K. The shell's outer radius is r_o = 86.2 pc, and the inner cavity radius is r_i = 0.082 pc. The condensation produces an extinction A_V = 50 mag, and its luminosity is L_c = 1.08 × 10³⁴ W, which would correspond to a burst of massive star formation approximately similar to the central 5 pc of R 136 in the LMC and NGC 3603, the ionizing cluster of a giant Carina arm H II region. The comparison with normal, luminous, and ultraluminous IR galaxies leads us to consider this obscured nucleus as the nearest and weakest object of this category.