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Published August 20, 2006 | Published
Journal Article Open

First Evidence of a Precessing Jet Excavating a Protostellar Envelope

Abstract

We present new, sensitive, near-infrared images of the Class I protostar, Elias 29, in the Ophiuchus cloud core. To explore the relationship between the infall envelope and the outflow, narrowband H_2 1-0 S(1), Brγ, and K_(cont) filters were used to image the source with the Wide-Field Infrared Camera on the Hale 5 m telescope and with Persson's Auxiliary Nasmyth Infrared Camera on the Baade 6.5 m telescope. The source appears as a bipolar, scattered light nebula, with a wide opening angle in all filters, as is typical for late-stage protostars. However, the pure H_2 emission-line images point to the presence of a heretofore undetected precessing jet. It is argued that high-velocity, narrow, precessing jets provide the mechanism for creating the observed wide-angled outflow cavity in this source.

Additional Information

© 2006 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2006 February 13; accepted 2006 July 5; published 2006 August 8. We thank our very professional night assistants, Jean Mueller at Palomar Observatory and Hernan Nuñez, at Las Campanas Observatory. Portions of this research were funded by NSF AST 02-06146 to M. B. and by the NASA LTSA Program (NAG5-8933). NASA/LTSA Award 399-30- 61-00-00 to R. S. is gratefully acknowledged. A. J. W. acknowledges support from NASA Space Science grant NAG5-3175.

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August 22, 2023
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