Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003hst..prop.9752s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9752
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #9752 Star Formation
Scientific paper
Orion contains the site of the nearest region of massive star formation to the Sun; only here can this pivotal process in galactic evolution be studied at the highest resolution. There are 10^5 solar luminosities of radiation emitted from the Orion Molecular Cloud {OMC-1}, possibly from a young massive star or protostar, or possibly from several, less luminous sources. Either way, the powering source{s} in the closest site of massive star formation has still not yet been identified. Here we propose to apply a new tool to determine which, of several prospective sources, might prove to be the heart of OMC-1. The sources cannot be seen directly because they lie in, or behind, a warm, dense molecular cloud. However, their presence can be inferred in polarized light, through the manner in which light is scattered off neighboring clouds. Heretofore, the spatial resolution has not been adequate to identify the locations of individual stars. We propose to use the NICMOS polarizers combined with the high spatial resolution of HST to achieve this, in spite of the high density of candidate objects in the core of Orion. The demands of accurately measuring the polarization vectors of small, diffuse objects relative to the surrounding background from dust-scattered light requires the high Strehl ratio and stable point-spread function only achievable from space.
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