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Session 10 - Interstellar Medium and Star Formation.
Display session, Monday, June 08
Atlas Ballroom,
The Wolf-Rayet (WR) nebula NGC 2359 is a wind-blown bubble that appears to abut against a molecular cloud. Recent NIR observations with the NIRIM camera at the Mount Laguna Observatory have detected emission from the H_2 \upsilon=1-0 S transition (\lambda2.122 \mum) along the entire eastern rim of the bubble as well as along the southern edge of the HII region south of the WR bubble. To better understand the region we have also observed the CO(J=1-0) transition with the NRAO Kitt Peak 12m to better determine the morphology of the molecular cloud complex and its relationship to the bubble. The molecular cloud appears to end at exactly the position that the NIR H_2 observations trace out the eastern rim of the shell. It is not clear whether shock excitation or fluorescence is responsible for the H_2 emission. A comparison between high-resolution CO maps and the H_2 image may shed light on the excitation mechanism.
