2004/06/13 by William T. Reach, Jeonghee Rho, Erick Young +16
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Bolometer #H II region #Luminosity #Nebula #Orion Nebula #Protostar #Spectral line #Spitzer Space Telescope #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/422193
published as Astrophys.J.Suppl.154:385-390,2005 · Spitzer first ApJS special issue (in press)
arxiv created 2004/06/13 · openalex publication_date 2004/09/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
The optically dark globule IC 1396A is revealed using Spitzer Space Telescope images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8, and 24 μm to be infrared-bright and to contain a set of previously unknown protostars. The mid-infrared colors of the 24 μm detected sources indicate several very young (Class I or 0) protostars and a dozen Class II stars. Three of the new sources (IC 1396A:γ, 1396A:δ, and 1396A: ) emit over 90% of their bolometric luminosities at wavelengths greater than 3 μm, and they are located within ∼0.02 pc of the ionization front at the edge of the globule. Many of the sources have spectra that are still rising at 24 μm. The two previously known young stars LkHα 349a and 349c are both detected, with component c harboring a massive disk and component a being bare. On the order of 5% of the mass of material in the globule is presently in the form of protostars in the 10 5 -10 6 yr age range. This high star formation rate was likely triggered by radiation from a nearby O star.