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U.S. Department of Energy
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Infrared and radio observations of W51: another Orion-KL at a distance of 7kpc

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5912961
The bright infrared source W51-IRS2 has at least three components with different physical and evolutionary properties. The spatial distribution and the near infrared spectra of the components in IRS2 are remarkably similar to, but more luminous than those found in Orion, where an H2 region of comparable linear size is also located close to a cluster of compact infrared sources. The characteristics of the nearby W51-NORTH H2O maser source, and the detection of 2 micro m H2 quadrupole emission in IRS2 indicate that the mass loss phenomena found in Orion-KL also exist in W51.
Research Organization:
Hawaii Univ., Honolulu (USA)
OSTI ID:
5912961
Report Number(s):
NASA-CR-164231
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English