Waves on the surface of the Orion molecular cloud

Massive stars influence their parental molecular cloud, and it has long been suspected that the development of hydrodynamical instabilities can compress or fragment the cloud. Identifying such instabilities has proved difficult. It has been suggested that elongated structures (such as the 'pill...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2010-08, Vol.466 (7309), p.947-949
Main Authors: Berné, Olivier, Marcelino, Núria, Cernicharo, José
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/33/34
639/33/525
Astronomy
Composition
Earth, ocean, space
Elongated structure
Exact sciences and technology
Extraterrestrial Environment - chemistry
Growth rate
Humanities and Social Sciences
Infrared Rays
Instability
Interstellar medium (ism) and nebulae in milky way
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
letter
Massive stars
Molecular clouds
Molecular clouds, h2 clouds, dense clouds, and dark clouds
multidisciplinary
Observations
Orion (Constellation)
Pillars
Plasma
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Signatures
Stability
Star & galaxy formation
Stars & galaxies
Stars, Celestial - chemistry
Stellar systems. Galactic and extragalactic objects and systems. The universe
X-Rays
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Summary:Massive stars influence their parental molecular cloud, and it has long been suspected that the development of hydrodynamical instabilities can compress or fragment the cloud. Identifying such instabilities has proved difficult. It has been suggested that elongated structures (such as the 'pillars of creation') and other shapes arise because of instabilities, but alternative explanations are available. One key signature of an instability is a wave-like structure in the gas, which has hitherto not been seen. Here we report the presence of 'waves' at the surface of the Orion molecular cloud near where massive stars are forming. The waves seem to be a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability that arises during the expansion of the nebula as gas heated and ionized by massive stars is blown over pre-existing molecular gas.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature09289