A collimated jet of molecular gas from a star on the asymptotic giant branch

Hiroshi Imai (), Kumiko Obara, Philip J. Diamond, Toshihiro Omodaka and Tetsuo Sasao
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Hiroshi Imai: VERA Project Office, National Astronomical Observatory
Kumiko Obara: Mizusawa Astrogeodynamics Observatory
Philip J. Diamond: Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester
Toshihiro Omodaka: Kagoshima University
Tetsuo Sasao: VERA Project Office, National Astronomical Observatory

Nature, 2002, vol. 417, issue 6891, 829-831

Abstract: Abstract Evolved stars of about one solar mass are in general spherically symmetric, yet the planetary nebulae that they produce in the next phase of their evolution tend not to exhibit such symmetry. Collimated ‘jets’ and outflows of material have been observed1,2,3,4,5 up to ∼0.3 parsec from the central stars of planetary nebulae, and precession of those jets has been proposed1 to explain the observed asymmetries. Moreover, it has recently been shown6 theoretically that magnetic fields could launch and collimate such jets. Here we report the detection of a collimated and precessing jet of molecular gas that is traced by water-vapour maser spots ∼500 astronomical units (au) from the star W43A in Aquila. We conclude that the jet is formed in the immediate vicinity of the star, and infer that elongated planetary nebulae are formed by jets during the short period, of less than 1,000 years, when the star makes its transition through the proto-planetary nebula phase to become a planetary nebula.

Date: 2002
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DOI: 10.1038/nature00788

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