2003/12/03 by Francois Lacombe, Eric Gendron, Daniel Rouan +10 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20040030
published as Astron.Astrophys. 417 (2004) L5-L10
arxiv created 2003/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Near-infrared observations of line emission from excited H2 and in the continuum are reported in the direction of the Orion molecular cloud OMC1, using the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope UT4, equipped with the NAOS adaptive optics system and the CONICA infrared array camera. Spatial resolution has been achieved at close to the diffraction limit of the telescope (0.08" - 0.12") and images show a wealth of morphological detail. Structure is not fractal but shows two preferred scale sizes of 2.4" (1100 AU) and 1.2" (540 AU), where the larger scale may be associated with star formation.