IMAGING OF THE WOLF-RAYET GALAXY HE 2-10

We present B, V, and emission-line CCD images of the Wolf-Rayet galaxy He 2-10. The broad band images reveal the galaxy to consist of two starburst regions at the center of an elliptical stellar envelope approximately 10 times their size, with a major axis diameter of approximately 3.8 kpc. Previous imaging detected only the starburst regions, leading to the erroneous description of the object as an interacting pair. Morphologically, He 2-10 resembles the majority of blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDGs), some of which also show Wolf-Rayet features in their spectra. The outer regions of the galaxy are well fit by a de Vaucouleurs r1/4 intensity law, and have B-V values indicative of a population of late-type stars. The color of the larger of the two starburst regions, in which the Wolf-Rayet spectral features are seen, is consistent with a cluster containing a large number of WC stars, in accordance with recent spectroscopic results. This region appears to be very compact ( less than or similar to 18 pc), also consistent with recent spectroscopy. The lack of nearby neighbors to He 2-10 suggests that its star formation is proceeding stochastically, rather than as the result of interaction, and its morphological similarity to other BCDGs suggests that all such galaxies may pass through a Wolf-Rayet phase. The similarity of the outer regions of He 2-10 and other BCDGs to normal dwarf ellipticals also supports models in which the former evolve into the latter.