Outflows from the youngest stars are mostly molecular

T. P. Ray (), M. J. McCaughrean, A. Caratti o Garatti, P. J. Kavanagh, K. Justtanont, E. F. Dishoeck, M. Reitsma, H. Beuther, L. Francis, C. Gieser, P. Klaassen, G. Perotti, L. Tychoniec, M. Gelder, L. Colina, Th. R. Greve, M. Güdel, Th. Henning, P. O. Lagage, G. Östlin, B. Vandenbussche, C. Waelkens and G. Wright
Additional contact information
T. P. Ray: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
M. J. McCaughrean: European Space Agency, ESTEC
A. Caratti o Garatti: INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
P. J. Kavanagh: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
K. Justtanont: Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory
E. F. Dishoeck: Leiden University
M. Reitsma: European Space Agency, ESTEC
H. Beuther: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA)
L. Francis: Leiden University
C. Gieser: Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik
P. Klaassen: Royal Observatory Edinburgh
G. Perotti: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA)
L. Tychoniec: European Southern Observatory
M. Gelder: Leiden University
L. Colina: Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Carretera de Ajalvir
Th. R. Greve: Technical University of Denmark
M. Güdel: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA)
Th. Henning: Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA)
P. O. Lagage: Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM
G. Östlin: Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center
B. Vandenbussche: KU Leuven
C. Waelkens: KU Leuven
G. Wright: Royal Observatory Edinburgh

Nature, 2023, vol. 622, issue 7981, 48-52

Abstract: Abstract The formation of stars and planets is accompanied not only by the build-up of matter, namely accretion, but also by its expulsion in the form of highly supersonic jets that can stretch for several parsecs1,2. As accretion and jet activity are correlated and because young stars acquire most of their mass rapidly early on, the most powerful jets are associated with the youngest protostars3. This period, however, coincides with the time when the protostar and its surroundings are hidden behind many magnitudes of visual extinction. Millimetre interferometers can probe this stage but only for the coolest components3. No information is provided on the hottest (greater than 1,000 K) constituents of the jet, that is, the atomic, ionized and high-temperature molecular gases that are thought to make up the jet’s backbone. Detecting such a spine relies on observing in the infrared that can penetrate through the shroud of dust. Here we report near-infrared observations of Herbig-Haro 211 from the James Webb Space Telescope, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was, at most, a few times 104 years old. These observations reveal copious emission from hot molecules, explaining the origin of the ‘green fuzzies’4–7 discovered nearly two decades ago by the Spitzer Space Telescope8. This outflow is found to be propagating slowly in comparison to its more evolved counterparts and, surprisingly, almost no trace of atomic or ionized emission is seen, suggesting its spine is almost purely molecular.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06551-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:622:y:2023:i:7981:d:10.1038_s41586-023-06551-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().