2003/05/08 by G. Sandell, Gran Sandell, M. Wright +2 · 2 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Molecular Spectroscopy and Structure #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/376612
published as Astrophys.J. 590 (2003) L45-L48 · 11 pages (including 3 figures - 2 in color)
arxiv created 2003/05/08 · openalex publication_date 2003/05/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We report the detection of a massive rotating disk around the high-mass Class 0 candidate NGC 7538S. The disk is well resolved with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association array (θ A = 3 7) in the 3.4 mm continuum and in H 13 CN J = 1 → 0. It is seen nearly edge-on and has a size of ~30,000 AU. A young, powerful outflow perpendicular to the rotating disk is mapped in SiO J = 2 → 1 and HCO + J = 1 → 0. The dynamical age of the outflow is ≤10,000 yr. The velocity gradient seen in H 13 CN is consistent with Keplerian rotation. Assuming that the gas is gravitationally bound, the mass of the central object is ~40 M ☉ . The mass of the continuum "disk" is ≥100 M ☉ and has a luminosity of ~10 4 L ☉ . H 13 CN gives a mass of ~400 M ☉ for the rotating disk and of ~1000 M ☉ for the extended (20'') envelope. Our observations confirm that this is an extremely massive protostar in its earliest stages.