Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
May 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...210.7501k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #75.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.181
Physics
Optics
Scientific paper
We present high resolution ground-based near-infrared images of protostellar objects in the Orion Nebula using Keck/NIRC2 with the Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGSAO) system. Young (<106 yr) proto-planetary disks (``proplyds'') in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) are bathed in the intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation field of the high-mass stars of the Trapezium. As revealed in HST images, this intense UV radiation field heats the disk surfaces, drives mass-loss, and produces bright ionization fronts surrounding the low-mass protostars. The photoevaporation of these disks places strong temporal constraints on planet formation mechanisms in irradiated environments, which is important since a significant fraction of stars form in clusters with high-mass stars. As part of our ongoing studies to understand the nature of these objects, we present recent NIRC2/Keck near-infrared imaging with LGSAO that map the emission from ionized and molecular gas as well as emission from dust at 3.3 μm. Using LGSAO and NIRC2, we are able to resolve the ionization fronts and disks down to size scales of 23 AU. The presented observations focus on the HST 10 proto-planetary disk, which is resolved at all observed wavelengths. While the disk remains dark in images of the ionized gas, emission from H2 and dust at 3.3 μm appears to come from a thin ``skin'' on the surface of the disk which is spatially resolved for the first time in these images. The morphology of the dust beyond the disk differs significantly from that of the extended ionized and molecular gas, indicating that small grains are entrained in the evaporative outflow off the disk, but that the dust outflow then follows a different trajectory than that of the gas. A discussion of the observed differences with respect to HST imaging is presented, along with LGSAO NIRC2 imaging of two other proto-planetary disks.
Bally John
Kassis Marc
Morris Marita
Shuping Ralph Y.
Smith Nathan
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