We report Spitzer observations of five newly identified bow shocks in the massive star-forming region RCW 38. Four are visible at IRAC wavelengths, the fifth is visible only at 24 microns. Chandra X-ray emission indicates that winds from the central O5.5 binary, IRS~2, have caused an outflow to the NE and SW of the central subcluster. The southern lobe of hot ionised gas is detected in X-rays; shocked gas and heated dust from the shock-front are detected with Spitzer at 4.5 and 24 microns. The northern outflow may have initiated the present generation of star formation, based on the filamentary distribution of the protostars in the central subcluster. Further, the bow-shock driving star, YSO 129, is photo-evaporating a pillar of gas and dust. No point sources are identified within this pillar at near- to mid-IR wavelengths.
We also report on IRAC 3.6 & 5.8 micron observations of the cluster DBS2003-124, NE of RCW 38, where 33 candidate YSOs are identified. One star associated with the cluster drives a parsec-scale jet. Two candidate HH objects associated with the jet are visible at IRAC and MIPS wavelengths. The jet extends over a distance of ~3 pc. Assuming a velocity of 100 km/s for the jet material gives an age of about 30,000 years, indicating that the star (and cluster) are likely to be very young, with a similar or possibly younger age than RCW 38, and that star formation is ongoing in the extended RCW 38 region.
We report the results of infrared photometry on 39 extended red objects (EROs) in the Carina Nebula, observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Most EROs are identified by bright, extended 8.0 um emission, which ranges from 10'' to 40'' in size, but our sample also includes 4 EROs identified by extended 24 um emission. Of particular interest are nine EROs associated with late O or early B-type stars and characterized by arc-shaped morphology, suggesting dusty, stellar-wind bow shocks. These objects are preferentially oriented towards the central regions of the Carina Nebula, suggesting that th…
We present a study of the structure of the high mass star-forming region RCW~38 and the spatial distribution of its young stellar population. Spitzer IRAC photometry 3-8um are combined with 2MASS near-IR data to identify young stellar objects by IR-excess emission from their circumstellar material. Chandra X-ray data are used to identify class III pre-main sequence stars lacking circumstellar material. We identify 624 YSOs: 23 class 0/I and 90 flat spectrum protostars, 437 Class II stars, and 74 Class III stars. We also identify 29 (27 new) O star candidates over the IRAC field. Seventy-two st…
We present Caltech Submillimeter Observatory CO (2-1) and Spitzer IRAC observations toward IRAS 22506+5944, which is a 10$^4$ $L_{\odot}$ massive star-forming region. The CO (2-1) maps show an east-west bipolar molecular outflow originating from the 3 mm dust continuum peak. The Spitzer IRAC color-composite image reveals a pair of bow-shaped tips which are prominent in excess 4.5 $μ$m emission and are located to the leading fronts of the bipolar outflow, providing compelling evidence for the existence of bow-shocks as the driving agents of the molecular outflow. By comparing our CO (2-1) obser…
We report the discovery of a bow shock around the high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) 4U 1907+09 using the Spitzer Space Telescope 24 $μ$m data (after Vela X-1 the second example of bow shocks associated with HMXBs). The detection of the bow shock implies that 4U 1907+09 is moving through the space with a high (supersonic) peculiar velocity. To confirm the runaway nature of 4U 1907+09, we measured its proper motion, which for an adopted distance to the system of 4 kpc corresponds to a peculiar transverse velocity of $\simeq 160 \pm 115$ km/s, meaning that 4U 1907+09 is indeed a runaway system and su…
Most stars born in clusters and recent results suggest that star formation (SF) preferentially occurs in subclusters. Studying the morphology and SF history of young clusters is crucial to understanding early SF. We identify the embedded clusters of young stellar objects (YSOs) down to M stars, in the HII regions RCW33, RCW32 and RCW27 of the Vela Molecular Ridge. Our aim is to characterise their properties, such as morphology and extent of the clusters in the three HII regions, derive stellar ages and the connection of the SF history with the environment. Through public photometric surveys su…
We present resolution-enhanced images of warm dust at multiple temperatures and opacity index values in the star-forming bubble/HII region, RCW 120. The image set, representing a 4D hypercube of differential column density, was obtained using our Bayesian procedure, ppmap. The cool peripheral material ($\sim16$-22 K) exhibits ragged clumpy structure as noted previously by others. However, at higher temperatures ($\stackrel{>}{_\sim}26$ K) the geometry changes dramatically, showing a bubble boundary which is accurately circular in projection, except for the previously-reported opening in the no…
Triggered star formation around HII regions could be an important process. The Galactic HII region RCW 79 is a prototypical object for triggered high-mass star formation. We take advantage of Herschel data from the surveys HOBYS, "Evolution of Interstellar Dust", and Hi-Gal to extract compact sources in this region, complemented with archival 2MASS, Spitzer, and WISE data to determine the physical parameters of the sources (e.g., envelope mass, dust temperature, and luminosity) by fitting the spectral energy distribution. We obtained a sample of 50 compact sources, 96% of which are situated in…
Citizen science has helped astronomers comb through large data sets to identify patterns and objects that are not easily found through automated processes. The Milky Way Project (MWP), a citizen science initiative on the Zooniverse platform, presents internet users with infrared (IR) images from Spitzer Space Telescope Galactic plane surveys. MWP volunteers make classification drawings on the images to identify targeted classes of astronomical objects. We present the MWP second data release (DR2) and an updated data reduction pipeline written in Python. We aggregate ${\sim}3$ million classific…
We investigate the star formation activity in a young star forming cluster embedded at the edge of the RCW 41 HII region. As a complementary goal, we aim at demonstrating the gain provided by Wide-Field Adaptive Optics instruments to study young clusters. We used deep, JHKs images from the newly commissioned Gemini-GeMS/GSAOI instrument, complemented with Spitzer IRAC observations, in order to study the photometric properties of the young stellar cluster. GeMS is an AO instrument, delivering almost diffraction limited images over a field of 2' across. The exquisite angular resolution allows us…
We investigate the occurrence of stellar bow shocks around high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) in the Galaxy. We seek to conduct a survey of HMXBs in the mid-infrared to search for the presence of bow shocks around these objects. Telescopes operating in the mid-infrared, such as the Spitzer Space Telescope or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), are potent tools for searching for the stellar bow shocks. We used the available archival data from these telescopes to search for bow shock candidates around the confirmed and candidate HMXBs in the Galaxy. We detected extended mid-infrared struct…
We present a new analysis of the physical conditions in three Herbig-Haro complexes (HH 54, HH 212, and the L 1157 protostellar jet) using archival data from the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. As described in detail in Paper I, the emission observed using the 4.5-micron filter is enhanced in molecular shocks (T=1000-4000 K) at relatively high temperature or densities compared with that observed with the 8.0-micron filter. Using these data sets, we investigate different distributions of gas between high and low temperatures/densities. Our analysis reveals the prese…
To study the role of protosellar jets and outflows in the time evolution of the parent cores and the protostars, the astronomical community needs a large enough data base of infrared images of protostars at the highest spatial resolution possible, to reveal the details of their morphology. Spitzer provides unprecedented sensitivity in the infrared to study both the jet and outflow features, however its spatial resolution is limited by its 0.85m mirror. Here we use a high resolution deconvolution algorithm, "HiRes", to improve the visualization of spatial morphology by enhancing resolution (to …
An Halpha survey of infrared bow-shocks around OB-type stars
Astronomical Institute, Czech Academy of Science（捷克科学院天文研究所）；Astronomical Institute, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University（查理大学数学物理学院天文研究所）；Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu（塔尔图大学塔尔图天文台）；Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）
Dynamical few-body encounters in the dense cores of young massive star clusters are responsible for the loss of a significant fraction of their massive stellar content. Some of the escaping (runaway) stars move through the ambient medium supersonically and can be revealed via detection of their bow shocks (visible in the infrared, optical or radio). In this paper, which is the second of a series of papers devoted to the search for OB stars running away from young (several Myr) Galactic clusters and OB associations, we present the results of the search for bow shocks around the star-forming reg…
The bipolar jet HH 212, among the finest collimated jets known, has so far been detected only in near-infrared H$_2$ emission. Here we present deep optical images that show two of the major bow shocks weakly detected in optical [SII] emission, as expected for a bona fide Herbig-Haro jet. We present widefield H$_2$ images which reveal two more bow shocks located symmetrically around the source and along the main jet axis. Additionally, examination of Spitzer 4.5 $μ$m images reveals yet another bright bow shock further to the north along the jet axis; no corresponding bow shock is seen to the so…
We have studied the shock-excited molecular regions associated with four supernova remnants (SNRs) - IC443C, W28, W44 and 3C391 - and two Herbig-Haro objects, HH7 and HH54, using Spitzer's Infrared Spectrograph (IRS). The physical conditions within the observed areas are inferred from spectroscopic data obtained from IRS and from SWS and LWS onboard ISO, together with photometric data from Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). Adopting a power-law distribution for the gas temperature in the observed region, the H2 S(0) to S(7) spectral line maps obtained with IRS were used to constrain the g…
Spitzer-IRS maps of H_2 pure rotational lines from S(0) to S(7) in 3 outflows from Class 0 sources - L1448, BHR71, and NGC2071 - are presented. These lines are used, in conjunction with available rovibrational, near-IR H_2 lines, to probe the physical conditions of the warm gas between hundreds and thousands of Kelvin. We have constructed maps of the molecular hydrogen column density, ortho-to-para ratio and volume density, together with the index beta of the power law describing the distribution of gas temperature. In all three outflows, the present ortho-to-para ratio significantly deviates …
We present a detailed analysis of Spitzer-IRAC images obtained toward six Herbig-Haro objects (HH 54/211/212, L 1157/1448, BHR 71). Our analysis includes: (1) comparisons in morphology between the four IRAC bands (3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 um), and H2 1-0 S(1) at 2.12 um for three out of six objects; (2) measurements of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) at selected positions; and (3) comparisons of these results with calculations of thermal H2 emission at LTE (207 lines in four bands) and non-LTE (32-45 lines, depending on particle for collisions). We show that the morphologies observed at 3.6 …
Wolf-Rayet stars are advanced evolutionary stages of massive stars. Despite their large mass-loss rates and high wind velocities, none of them display a bow shock, although a fraction of them are classified as runaway. Our 2.5-D numerical simulations of circumstellar matter around a 60Mo runaway star show that the fast Wolf-Rayet stellar wind is released into a wind-blown cavity filled with various shocks and discontinuities generated throughout the precedent evolutionary phases. The resulting fast-wind slow-wind interaction leads to the formation of spherical shells of swept-up dusty material…
We report the first results of imaging the Carina Nebula with Spitzer/IRAC, providing a catalog of point sources and YSOs based on SED fits. We discuss several aspects of the extended emission, including dust pillars that result when a clumpy molecular cloud is shredded by massive star feedback. There are few "extended green objects" (EGOs) normally taken as signposts of outflow activity, and none of the HH jets detected optically are seen as EGOs. A population of "extended red objects" tends to be found around OB stars, some with clear bow-shocks. These are dusty shocks where stellar winds co…
The circumstellar dust shells of intermediate initial-mass (about 1 to 8 solar masses) evolved stars are generated by copious mass loss during the asymptotic giant branch phase. The density structure of their circumstellar shell is the direct evidence of mass loss processes, from which we can investigate the nature of mass loss. We used the AKARI Infrared Astronomy Satellite and the Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain the surface brightness maps of an evolved star R Cas at far-infrared wavelengths, since the temperature of dust decreases as the distance from the star increases and one needs to p…
Observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope and the WISE satellite have revealed a prominent arc-like structure at 50" ($\simeq0.1$ pc) from the O9.5V/B0.5V system $σ$ Ori AB. We attribute this dust structure to the interaction of radiation pressure from the star with dust carried along by the IC 434 photo-evaporative flow of ionized gas from the dark cloud L1630. We have developed a quantitative model for the interaction of a dusty ionized flow with nearby (massive) stars where radiation pressure stalls dust, piling it up at an appreciable distance (> 0.1 pc), and force it to flow around th…
We present a multi-wavelength study of two HH objects (137 and 138) that may be associated. We use Gemini H$_2$ (2.12 $μ$m) and K (2.2 $μ$m) images, as well as APEX molecular line observations and Spitzer image archives. Several H$_2$ knots, linked to the optical chain of knots of HH 137, are identified in the Gemini and Spitzer 4.5 $μ$m images. New shock excited regions related to the optical knots delineating HH 138 are also reported. In addition, a bright 4.5 $μ$m 0.09 pc-long arc-shaped structure, roughly located mid-way between HH 137 and HH 138, is found to be associated with two Spitzer…
We report the discovery of a bow-shock-producing star in the vicinity of the young massive star cluster NGC 3603 using archival data of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up optical spectroscopy of this star with Gemini-South led to its classification as O6 V. The orientation of the bow shock and the distance to the star (based on its spectral type) suggest that the star was expelled from the cluster, while the young age of the cluster (~2 Myr) implies that the ejection was caused by a dynamical few-body encounter in the cluster's core. The relative position on the sky of the O6 V star and a …
Recently published Spitzer observations of the classical Cepheid archetype delta Cephei revealed an extended dusty nebula surrounding this star and its hot companion. The infrared emission resembles a bow shock aligned with the direction of space motion of the star, indicating that delta Cep is undergoing mass-loss through a stellar wind. Here we report HI 21-cm line observations with the VLA to search for neutral atomic hydrogen associated with this wind. Our VLA data reveal a spatially extended HI nebula (~13' or 1 pc across) surrounding the position of delta Cep. The nebula has a head-tail …
We present H- and Ks-band imaging of three fields at the centre of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud, obtained as part of the Science Demonstration programme with the Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD) at the Very Large Telescope. Strehl ratios of 15-30% were achieved in the Ks-band, yielding near-infrared images of this dense and complex region at unprecedented angular resolution at these wavelengths. The MAD data are used to construct a near-infrared luminosity profile for R136, the cluster at the core of 30 Dor. Using cluster profiles of the form used by Elson et al.,…
