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Published September 10, 2009 | Published
Journal Article Open

First Spectroscopic Identification of Massive Young Stellar Objects in the Galactic Center

Abstract

We report the detection of several molecular gas-phase and ice absorption features in three photometrically selected young stellar object (YSO) candidates in the central 280 pc of the Milky Way. Our spectra, obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, reveal gas-phase absorption from CO2 (15.0 μm), C_(2)H_2 (13.7 μm), and HCN (14.0 μm). We attribute this absorption to warm, dense gas in massive YSOs. We also detect strong and broad 15 μm CO_2 ice absorption features, with a remarkable double-peaked structure. The prominent long-wavelength peak is due to CH_(3)OH-rich ice grains, and is similar to those found in other known massive YSOs. Our IRS observations demonstrate the youth of these objects, and provide the first spectroscopic identification of massive YSOs in the Galactic Center

Additional Information

© 2009 American Astronomical Society. Print publication: Issue 2 (2009 September 10); received 2009 June 9; accepted for publication 2009 July 27; Published 2009 August 21. We thank David Ardila for helpful discussions of the IRS data reduction. We thank Sean Carey for providing us MIPS photometry before publication. D.A. and S.R. thank John Stauffer for helpful discussions. This work is based on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France.

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