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Published September 2004 | Published + Submitted
Journal Article Open

Protostars in the Elephant Trunk Nebula

Abstract

The optically dark globule IC 1396A is revealed using Spitzer Space Telescope images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8, and 24 μm to be infrared-bright and to contain a set of previously unknown protostars. The mid-infrared colors of the 24 μm detected sources indicate several very young (Class I or 0) protostars and a dozen Class II stars. Three of the new sources (IC 1396A:γ, 1396A:δ, and 1396A:ε) emit over 90% of their bolometric luminosities at wavelengths greater than 3 μm, and they are located within ~0.02 pc of the ionization front at the edge of the globule. Many of the sources have spectra that are still rising at 24 μm. The two previously known young stars LkHα 349a and 349c are both detected, with component c harboring a massive disk and component a being bare. On the order of 5% of the mass of material in the globule is presently in the form of protostars in the 10^5-10^6 yr age range. This high star formation rate was likely triggered by radiation from a nearby O star.

Additional Information

© 2004. American Astronomical Society. Received 2004 March 25; accepted 2004 April 22. This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 1407. Support for this work was provided by NASA through an award issued by JPL/Caltech. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023