2009/09/29 by P. C. Schneider, H. M. Günther, H. M. Guenther +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Bow shock (aerodynamics) #Emission spectrum #Excited state #Herbig–Haro object #Outflow #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Shock (circulatory) #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200912890
8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
arxiv created 2009/09/29 · openalex publication_date 2009/10/15 · arxiv updated 2015/05/14 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
X-ray emission from massive stellar outflows has been detected in several cases. We present a <i>Chandra<i/> observation of HH 168 and show that the soft X-ray emission from a plasma of 0.55 keV within HH 168 is diffuse. The X-ray emission is observed on two different scales: Three individual, yet extended, regions are embedded within a complex of low X-ray surface brightness. Compared to the bow shock the emission is displaced against the outflow direction. We show that there is no significant contribution from young stellar objects (YSOs) and discuss several shock scenarios that can produce the observed signatures. We establish that the X-ray emission of HH 168 is excited by internal shocks in contrast to simple models, which expect the bow shock to be the most X-ray luminous.