A RING NEBULA SURROUNDING EVOLVED MASSIVE STARS IN THE POST-STARBURST GALAXY NGC-1569

Broad stellar emission lines have been detected in the optical spectrum of a small cluster in the post-starburst galaxy NGC 1569. These lines, He I 5876, Ha, and He I 6678, have a full width at half maximum of 600 km s(-1), and are attributed to a late-type WN star. The cluster, located in the outskirts of the galaxy, is surrounded by a large (radius=30 pc) ring nebula. This detection of a Wolf-Rayet star is a direct evidence of recent (less than or equal to 5 Myrs) massive (M(i) greater than or equal to 40M.) star formation in NGC 1569.