3D velocity fields from methanol and water masers in an intermediate-mass protostar
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
DOI
10.1017/S1743921312007375
Abstract
We report multi-epoch VLBI observations of molecular masers towards the high-mass star forming region AFGL 5142, leading to the determination of the 3D velocity field of circumstellar molecular gas at radii <0.''23 (or 400 AU) from the protostar MM-1. Our observations of CH3OH maser emission enabled, for the first time, a direct measurement of infall of a molecular envelope on to an intermediate-mass protostar (radius of 300 AU, velocity of 5 km s-1, and infall rate of 6 × 10-4 n 8 M ⊙ yr-1, where n 8 is the ambient volume density in units of 108 cm-3). In addition, our measurements of H2O maser (and radio continuum) emission revealed a collimated bipolar molecular outflow (and ionized jet) from MM-1. The evidence of simultaneous accretion and outflow at small spatial scales, makes AFGL 5142 an extremely compelling target for high-angular resolution studies of high-mass star formation.
Coverage
Cosmic Masers - from OH to H0
All editors
Booth, R.S.; Humphreys, E.M.L.; Vilemmings, W.H.T.
Volume
vol. 8, S287
Start page
401
Conferenece
Cosmic Masers - from OH to H0
Conferenece place
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Conferenece date
29 January- 3 February, 2012