THE DISCOVERY OF THE YOUNGEST MOLECULAR OUTFLOW ASSOCIATED WITH AN INTERMEDIATE-MASS PROTOSTELLAR CORE, MMS-6/OMC-3

Journal Article · Fri Jan 20 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/745/1/L10· OSTI ID:22048085

Takahashi, Satoko; Ho, Paul T. P., ^[1]

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1. Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 106, Taiwan (China)

We present subarcsecond resolution HCN (4-3) and CO (3-2) observations made with the Submillimeter Array, toward an extremely young intermediate-mass protostellar core, MMS 6-main, located in the Orion Molecular Cloud 3 region (OMC-3). We have successfully imaged a compact molecular outflow lobe ( Almost-Equal-To 1000 AU) associated with MMS 6-main, which is also the smallest molecular outflow ever found in the intermediate-mass protostellar cores. The dynamical timescale of this outflow is estimated to be {<=}100 yr. The line width dramatically increases downstream at the end of the molecular outflow ({Delta}v {approx} 25 km s{sup -1}) and clearly shows the bow-shock-type velocity structure. The estimated outflow mass ( Almost-Equal-To 10{sup -4} M{sub Sun }) and outflow size are approximately two to four orders and one to three orders of magnitude smaller, respectively, while the outflow force ( Almost-Equal-To 10{sup -4} M{sub Sun} km s{sup -1} yr{sup -1}) is similar, compared to the other molecular outflows studied in OMC-2/3. These results show that MMS 6-main is a protostellar core at the earliest evolutionary stage, most likely shortly after the second core formation.

• OSTI ID: 22048085
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 745; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CLOUDS
JETS
LINE WIDTHS
MASS
MOLECULES
PROTOSTARS
RESOLUTION
SHOCK WAVES
STAR EVOLUTION
VELOCITY