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W.T. Reach, J. Rho, T.H. Jarrett (IPAC/Caltech)
We present new observations of the supernova remnant 3C391 in the near-infrared, using the H2 2.12 \mum and [Fe II] 1.64 \mum narrow-band filters in the Prime Focus Infrared Camera on the Palomar Observatory Hale 200'' telescope, and in the mid-infrared, using the circular-variable filters in the ISOCAM on the Infrared Space Observatory. The shocked H2 emission is largely confined to the region 3C391:BML (40'' size), where broad millimeter CO and CS lines had previously been detected. The [Fe II] emission has a significantly different distribution, being brightest in the radio bar and tracing the radio shell. The mid-infrared spectrum reveals bright ionic lines of [Fe II] 5.5 \mum, [Ar II] 6.9 \mum, [Ne II] 12.8 \mum, and [Ne III] 15.5 \mum. There are no aromatic hydrocarbons associated with the shocks, nor is their any mid-infrared continuum, suggesting that macromolecules and very small grains are destroyed in the shocks. The broad-molecular line region 3C391:BML was detected in 5 rotational H2 lines and was imaged at 1.5'' resolution in the near-infrared H2 line. The molecular shocked region resolves into 15 clumps of H2 emission, with no embedded continuum sources. We interpret these clumps as a cluster of pre-stellar cores that are presently being shocked by the supernova blast wave.