Far-Infrared Observations of W3-IRS4

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Session 34 -- Airbourne Astronomy
Display presentation, Tuesday, 9:30-6:30, Pauley Room

[34.15] Far-Infrared Observations of W3-IRS4

M.F.Campbell, M.B.Campbell (Colby Coll.), H.M.Butner (NASA Ames), P.M.Harvey,D.F.Lester, N.J.Evans (U.Texas)

W3-IRS4 is a high luminosity far-infrared source associated with the ultracompact HII region W3C. It was mapped at 47 and 95 microns as part of a program of observing regions of current or recent high mass star formation taking advantage of improved sensitivity and spatial resolution of the Texas bolometer array on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. W3-IRS4 is a resolved far-ir source which appears to be spherically symmetrical in maps. Scan profiles of IRS4 were separated from the brighter peak at IRS5 and from extended emission due to W3A. Maximum entropy deconvolutions of scans through IRS4 indicate that the source consists of a central peak surrounded by an extended plateau or pedestal of emission. Both core and pedestal are narrower at 47 microns than at 95 microns. Radiative transfer models for spherically symmetrical dusty molecular clouds with various power law radial density distributions heated by a central star do not fit the observed emission profiles well. The implications for other models of this object are discussed.\\ This work was partly supported by NASA Grant NAG 2-546 to Colby College.

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