[SiII] Imaging of the Orion Nebula

Previous abstract Next abstract

Session 96 -- YSOs and Masers
Oral presentation, Wednesday, 11, 1995, 2:00pm - 3:30pm

[96.06] [SiII] Imaging of the Orion Nebula

H. Latvakoski, G.J. Stacey, T.L. Hayward, G.E. Gull, and L. Peng (Department of Astronomy, Cornell University)

We present a [SiII] 34.8 micron image of the Orion Nebula taken with KWIC (Kuiper widefield Infrared Camera). KWIC has a 5.8 arc minute field of view and a resolution of 9 arc seconds which corresponds to 0.02 parsecs at the distance of the Orion Nebula. The [SiII] line has a low optical depth and a high critical density which makes it an excellent choice for the study of high density photodissociation regions (PDR's). Our image shows bright emission from the PDR surrounding the Orion HII region. The emission is especially bright and arises from apparently clumpy gas at the bar. The peak to minimum intensity ratio is a measure of the clump to interclump density ratio, which we estimate to be roughly 3:1. The emission is elongated along the direction of the high velociy outflow at the BN-KL cluster. The enhanced [SiII] emission there is likely indicative of fast, dissociative J-shocks.

Wednesday program listing