Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from protostars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have performed near-infrared observations of HH 211, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was at most a few times 10,000 years old.
This Webb image shows HH 211, a Herbig-Haro object located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
HH 211, otherwise known as Per-emb 1 and Bolo 103, resides 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus.
This object contains a Class 0 protostar, an infant solar-type star about 8% the mass of the present-day Sun.
The new high resolution, near-infrared image of HH 211 was obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
“Infrared imaging is powerful in studying newborn stars and their outflows, because such stars are invariably still embedded within the gas from the molecular cloud in which they formed,” Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“The infrared emission of the star’s outflows penetrates the obscuring gas and dust, making a Herbig-Haro object like HH 211 ideal for observation with Webb’s sensitive infrared instruments.”
“Molecules excited by the turbulent conditions, including molecular hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and silicon monoxide, emit infrared light that Webb can collect to map out the structure of the outflows.”
The image of HH 211 showcases a series of bow shocks to the southeast (lower-left) and northwest (upper-right) as well as the narrow bipolar jet that powers them.
“Webb reveals this scene in unprecedented detail — roughly 5 to 10 times higher spatial resolution than any previous images of HH 211,” the astronomers said.
“The inner jet is seen to ‘wiggle’ with mirror symmetry on either side of the central protostar.”
“This is in agreement with observations on smaller scales and suggests that the protostar may in fact be an unresolved binary star.”
“Earlier observations of HH 211 with ground-based telescopes revealed giant bow shocks moving away from us (northwest) and moving towards us (southeast) and cavity-like structures in shocked hydrogen and carbon monoxide respectively, as well as a knotty and wiggling bipolar jet in silicon monoxide.”
The researchers determined that the object’s outflow is relatively slow in comparison to more evolved protostars with similar types of outflows.
They measured the velocities of the innermost outflow structures to be roughly 80-100 km per second (48-60 miles per second).
However, the difference in velocity between these sections of the outflow and the leading material they’re colliding with — the shockwave — is much smaller.
“Outflows from the youngest stars, like that in the center of HH 211, are mostly made up of molecules, because the comparatively low shock wave velocities are not energetic enough to break the molecules apart into simpler atoms and ions,” the authors concluded.
Their paper was published in the journal Nature.
_____
T.P. Ray et al. Outflows from the Youngest Stars are Mostly Molecular. Nature, published online August 24, 2023; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1
Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from protostars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have performed near-infrared observations of HH 211, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was at most a few times 10,000 years old.
This Webb image shows HH 211, a Herbig-Haro object located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
HH 211, otherwise known as Per-emb 1 and Bolo 103, resides 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus.
This object contains a Class 0 protostar, an infant solar-type star about 8% the mass of the present-day Sun.
The new high resolution, near-infrared image of HH 211 was obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
“Infrared imaging is powerful in studying newborn stars and their outflows, because such stars are invariably still embedded within the gas from the molecular cloud in which they formed,” Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“The infrared emission of the star’s outflows penetrates the obscuring gas and dust, making a Herbig-Haro object like HH 211 ideal for observation with Webb’s sensitive infrared instruments.”
“Molecules excited by the turbulent conditions, including molecular hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and silicon monoxide, emit infrared light that Webb can collect to map out the structure of the outflows.”
The image of HH 211 showcases a series of bow shocks to the southeast (lower-left) and northwest (upper-right) as well as the narrow bipolar jet that powers them.
“Webb reveals this scene in unprecedented detail — roughly 5 to 10 times higher spatial resolution than any previous images of HH 211,” the astronomers said.
“The inner jet is seen to ‘wiggle’ with mirror symmetry on either side of the central protostar.”
“This is in agreement with observations on smaller scales and suggests that the protostar may in fact be an unresolved binary star.”
“Earlier observations of HH 211 with ground-based telescopes revealed giant bow shocks moving away from us (northwest) and moving towards us (southeast) and cavity-like structures in shocked hydrogen and carbon monoxide respectively, as well as a knotty and wiggling bipolar jet in silicon monoxide.”
The researchers determined that the object’s outflow is relatively slow in comparison to more evolved protostars with similar types of outflows.
They measured the velocities of the innermost outflow structures to be roughly 80-100 km per second (48-60 miles per second).
However, the difference in velocity between these sections of the outflow and the leading material they’re colliding with — the shockwave — is much smaller.
“Outflows from the youngest stars, like that in the center of HH 211, are mostly made up of molecules, because the comparatively low shock wave velocities are not energetic enough to break the molecules apart into simpler atoms and ions,” the authors concluded.
Their paper was published in the journal Nature.
_____
T.P. Ray et al. Outflows from the Youngest Stars are Mostly Molecular. Nature, published online August 24, 2023; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1
Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from protostars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have performed near-infrared observations of HH 211, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was at most a few times 10,000 years old.
This Webb image shows HH 211, a Herbig-Haro object located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
HH 211, otherwise known as Per-emb 1 and Bolo 103, resides 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus.
This object contains a Class 0 protostar, an infant solar-type star about 8% the mass of the present-day Sun.
The new high resolution, near-infrared image of HH 211 was obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
“Infrared imaging is powerful in studying newborn stars and their outflows, because such stars are invariably still embedded within the gas from the molecular cloud in which they formed,” Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“The infrared emission of the star’s outflows penetrates the obscuring gas and dust, making a Herbig-Haro object like HH 211 ideal for observation with Webb’s sensitive infrared instruments.”
“Molecules excited by the turbulent conditions, including molecular hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and silicon monoxide, emit infrared light that Webb can collect to map out the structure of the outflows.”
The image of HH 211 showcases a series of bow shocks to the southeast (lower-left) and northwest (upper-right) as well as the narrow bipolar jet that powers them.
“Webb reveals this scene in unprecedented detail — roughly 5 to 10 times higher spatial resolution than any previous images of HH 211,” the astronomers said.
“The inner jet is seen to ‘wiggle’ with mirror symmetry on either side of the central protostar.”
“This is in agreement with observations on smaller scales and suggests that the protostar may in fact be an unresolved binary star.”
“Earlier observations of HH 211 with ground-based telescopes revealed giant bow shocks moving away from us (northwest) and moving towards us (southeast) and cavity-like structures in shocked hydrogen and carbon monoxide respectively, as well as a knotty and wiggling bipolar jet in silicon monoxide.”
The researchers determined that the object’s outflow is relatively slow in comparison to more evolved protostars with similar types of outflows.
They measured the velocities of the innermost outflow structures to be roughly 80-100 km per second (48-60 miles per second).
However, the difference in velocity between these sections of the outflow and the leading material they’re colliding with — the shockwave — is much smaller.
“Outflows from the youngest stars, like that in the center of HH 211, are mostly made up of molecules, because the comparatively low shock wave velocities are not energetic enough to break the molecules apart into simpler atoms and ions,” the authors concluded.
Their paper was published in the journal Nature.
_____
T.P. Ray et al. Outflows from the Youngest Stars are Mostly Molecular. Nature, published online August 24, 2023; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1
Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from protostars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have performed near-infrared observations of HH 211, an outflow from an analogue of our Sun when it was at most a few times 10,000 years old.
This Webb image shows HH 211, a Herbig-Haro object located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
HH 211, otherwise known as Per-emb 1 and Bolo 103, resides 1,000 light-years away in the constellation of Perseus.
This object contains a Class 0 protostar, an infant solar-type star about 8% the mass of the present-day Sun.
The new high resolution, near-infrared image of HH 211 was obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
“Infrared imaging is powerful in studying newborn stars and their outflows, because such stars are invariably still embedded within the gas from the molecular cloud in which they formed,” Webb astronomers said in a statement.
“The infrared emission of the star’s outflows penetrates the obscuring gas and dust, making a Herbig-Haro object like HH 211 ideal for observation with Webb’s sensitive infrared instruments.”
“Molecules excited by the turbulent conditions, including molecular hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and silicon monoxide, emit infrared light that Webb can collect to map out the structure of the outflows.”
The image of HH 211 showcases a series of bow shocks to the southeast (lower-left) and northwest (upper-right) as well as the narrow bipolar jet that powers them.
“Webb reveals this scene in unprecedented detail — roughly 5 to 10 times higher spatial resolution than any previous images of HH 211,” the astronomers said.
“The inner jet is seen to ‘wiggle’ with mirror symmetry on either side of the central protostar.”
“This is in agreement with observations on smaller scales and suggests that the protostar may in fact be an unresolved binary star.”
“Earlier observations of HH 211 with ground-based telescopes revealed giant bow shocks moving away from us (northwest) and moving towards us (southeast) and cavity-like structures in shocked hydrogen and carbon monoxide respectively, as well as a knotty and wiggling bipolar jet in silicon monoxide.”
The researchers determined that the object’s outflow is relatively slow in comparison to more evolved protostars with similar types of outflows.
They measured the velocities of the innermost outflow structures to be roughly 80-100 km per second (48-60 miles per second).
However, the difference in velocity between these sections of the outflow and the leading material they’re colliding with — the shockwave — is much smaller.
“Outflows from the youngest stars, like that in the center of HH 211, are mostly made up of molecules, because the comparatively low shock wave velocities are not energetic enough to break the molecules apart into simpler atoms and ions,” the authors concluded.
Their paper was published in the journal Nature.
_____
T.P. Ray et al. Outflows from the Youngest Stars are Mostly Molecular. Nature, published online August 24, 2023; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06551-1
