Induced massive star formation in the trifid nebula?
The Trifid nebula is a young (10(5) years) galactic HII region where several protostellar sources have been detected with the infrared space observatory. The sources are massive (17 to 60 solar masses) and are associated with molecular gas condensations at the edges or inside the nebula. They appear to be in an early evolutionary stage and may represent the most recent generation of stars in the Trifid. These sources range from dense, apparently still inactive cores to more evolved sources, undergoing violent mass ejection episodes, including a source that powers an optical jet. These observations suggest that the protostellar sources may have evolved by induced star formation in the Trifid nebula.
J. Cernicharo, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, Dpto. Fisica Molecular, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, (CSIC), Serrano 123, 28006 Madrid, Spain. B. Lefloch, Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, Dpto. Fisica Molecu.
J
Cernicharo
B
Lefloch
P
Cox
D
Cesarsky
C
Esteban
F
Yusef-Zadeh
DI
Mendez
J
Acosta-Pulido
Garcia Lopez RJ
A
Heras