2004/02/18 by L. J. Greenhill, D. Y. Gezari, W. C. Danchi +3 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Accretion (finance) #Angular resolution (graph drawing) #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Core (optical fiber) #Educational Leadership and Practices #Infrared #Luminosity #Orion Nebula #Star formation #Stars #Young stellar object #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/386544
published as Astrophys.J. 605 (2004) L57-L60 · 13 pages including 3 color figures. Accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters pending slight reduction in length. High resolution figures (jpeg) may be found at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~lincoln/keck.bnkl.midir.ppr/
arxiv created 2004/02/18 · openalex publication_date 2004/03/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present Keck Long Wavelength Spectrometer images of the Orion BN/KL star-forming region obtained in the first multiwavelength study to have 0 3-0 5 resolution from 4.7 to 22 μm. The young stellar objects designated infrared source n and radio source I are believed to dominate the BN/KL region. We have detected extended emission from a probable accretion disk around source n but infer a stellar luminosity on the order of only 2000 L ☉ . Although source I is believed to be more luminous, we do not detect an infrared counterpart even at the longest wavelengths. However, we resolve the close-by infrared source, IRc2, into an arc of knots ~10 3 AU long at all wavelengths. Although the physical relation of source I to IRc2 remains ambiguous, we suggest that these sources mark a high-density core (10 7 -10 8 pc -3 over ~10 3 AU) within the larger BN/KL star-forming cluster. The high density may be a consequence of the core being young and heavily embedded. We suggest that the energetics of the BN/KL region may be dominated by this cluster core rather than one or two individual sources.