First Science Observations with SOFIA/FORCAST: 6 TO 37 micron Imaging of Orion BN/KL

Abstract

The BN/KL region of the Orion Nebula is the nearest region of high mass star formation in our galaxy. As such, it has been the subject of intense investigation at a variety of wavelengths, which have revealed it to be brightest in the infrared to sub-mm wavelength regime. Using the newly commissioned SOFIA airborne telescope and its 5-40 micron camera FORCAST, images of the entire BN/KL complex have been acquired. The 31.5 and 37.1 micron images represent the highest resolution observations (<=4") ever obtained of this region at these wavelengths. These observations reveal that the BN object is not the dominant brightness source in the complex at wavelengths >31.5 microns, and that this distinction goes instead to the source IRc4. It was determined from these images and derived dust color temperature maps that IRc4 is also likely to be self-luminous. A new source of emission has also been identified at wavelengths >31.5 microns that coincides with the northeastern outflow lobe from the protostellar disk associated with radio source I.

6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

References in corpus (2)

• First Science Observations with SOFIA/FORCAST: The FORCAST Mid-infrared Camera
• Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Polarization Measurements of OMC-1

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Herschel observations of EXtra-Ordinary Sources: Analysis of the HIFI 1.2 THz Wide Spectral Survey Toward Orion KL I. Methods
• The ALMA View of the OMC1 Explosion in Orion
• The VLTI/MIDI survey of massive young stellar objects - Sounding the inner regions around intermediate- and high-mass young stars using mid-infrared interferometry
• Herschel Far-Infrared Spectral-mapping of Orion BN/KL Outflows: Spatial distribution of excited CO, H2O, OH, O and C+ in shocked gas
• Herschel observations of Extra-Ordinary Sources: H2S as a Probe of Dense Gas and Possibly Hidden Luminosity Toward the Orion KL Hot Core
• The SOFIA Observatory at the Start of Routine Science Operations : Mission capabilities and performance
• The Orion Protostellar Explosion and Runaway Stars Revisited: Stellar Masses, Disk Retention, and an Outflow from BN
• The VLA/ALMA Nascent Disk and Multiplicity (VANDAM) Survey of Orion Protostars I. Identifying and Characterizing the Protostellar Content of the OMC2-FIR4 and OMC2-FIR3 Regions
• Extended warm gas in Orion KL as probed by methyl cyanide
• ALMA Imaging of Millimeter/Submillimeter Continuum Emission in Orion KL
• A study of dynamical processes in the Orion KL region using ALMA-- Probing molecular outflow and inflow
• Outflow Structure and Velocity Field of Orion Source I: ALMA Imaging of SiO Isotopologue Maser and Thermal Emission
• Sulfur-bearing molecules in Orion KL
• The Ionized Circumstellar Envelopes of Orion Source I and the Becklin Neugebauer Object
• First Science Results From SOFIA/FORCAST: Super-Resolution Imaging of the S140 Cluster at 37\micron
• Observational evidence for rotational desorption of Complex Molecules by radiative torques from Orion BN/KL
• Mapping physical parameters in Orion KL at high spatial resolution
• Keck Adaptive Optics Observations of the Protostellar Disk around Radio Source I in the Orion Kleinmann-Low Nebula
• First Science Observations with SOFIA/FORCAST: 6 to 37 micron Imaging of the Central Orion Nebula