Outflows from the youngest stars are mostly molecular
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2023
The formation of stars and planets is accompanied not only by the build-up of matter, namely accretion, but also by its expulsion in the form of highly supersonic jets that can stretch for several parsecs 1,2. As accretion and jet activity are correlated and because young stars acquire most of their mass rapidly early on, the most powerful jets are associated with the youngest protostars 3. This period, however, coincides with the time when the protostar and its surroundings are hidden behind many magnitudes of visual extinction. Millimetre interferometers can probe this stage but only for the coolest components 3. No information is provided on the hottest (greater than 1,000 K) constituents of the jet, that is, the atomic, ionized and high-temperature molecular gases that are thought to make up the jet’s backbone. Detecting such a spine relies on observing in the infrared that can penetrate through the shroud of dust. Here we report near-infrared observations of Herbig-Haro 211 from the James Webb Space Telescope, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was, at most, a few times 104 years old. These observations reveal copious emission from hot molecules, explaining the origin of the ‘green fuzzies’ 4–7 discovered nearly two decades ago by the Spitzer Space Telescope 8. This outflow is found to be propagating slowly in comparison to its more evolved counterparts and, surprisingly, almost no trace of atomic or ionized emission is seen, suggesting its spine is almost purely molecular.
Författare
Tom Ray
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Trinity College Dublin
M. J. McCaughrean
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
A. Caratti o. Garatti
Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
Patrick Kavanagh
Maynooth University
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Kay Justtanont
Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik
E. F. van Dishoeck
Universiteit Leiden
M. Reitsma
Universiteit Leiden
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
H. Beuther
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
L. Francis
Universiteit Leiden
C. Gieser
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Pamela Klaassen
Royal Observatory
G. Perotti
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Łukasz Tychoniec
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
M. L. Van Gelder
Universiteit Leiden
L. Colina
Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB)
T. R. Greve
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU)
M. Gudel
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)
Universität Wien
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
T. Henning
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
P. O. Lagage
Université Paris-Saclay
G. Östlin
Stockholms universitet
B. Vandenbussche
KU Leuven
C. Waelkens
KU Leuven
G. Wright
Royal Observatory
Nature
0028-0836 (ISSN) 1476-4687 (eISSN)
Vol. 622 7981 48-52Ämneskategorier
Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi
DOI
10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1
PubMed
37619607