Outflows from the youngest stars are mostly molecular

Journal
Date Issued
2023
Author(s)
Ray, T. P.
•
McCaughrean, M. J.
•
•
Kavanagh, P. J.
•
Justtanont, K.
•
van Dishoeck, E. F.
•
Reitsma, M.
•
Beuther, H.
•
Francis, L.
•
Gieser, C.
•
Klaassen, P.
•
Perotti, G.
•
Tychoniec, L.
•
van Gelder, M.
•
Colina, L.
•
Greve, Th R.
•
Güdel, M.
•
Henning, Th
•
Lagage, P. O.
•
Östlin, G.
•
Vandenbussche, B.
•
Waelkens, C.
•
Wright, G.
DOI
Abstract
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.
Volume
622
Issue
7981
Start page
48
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0028-0836
Rights
open.access
File(s)
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name

s41586-023-06551-1-4.pdf

Description
PDF editoriale
Size

7.82 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

220ebfe0a15504f6f8e78e1f0b703ebe