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N. Smith, J. Bally, J. Thiel, J. A. Morse (University of Colorado)
We have obtained narrow-band optical images of the Carina Nebula using the MOSAIC camera on the CTIO 4m telescope. These images reveal dozens of compact objects that closely resemble bright proplyds (photoablated proto-planetary disks) and dark silhouette disks that have been seen previously in the Orion Nebula. This is the first detection of a large number of such objects outside Orion, and it is significant because Carina has a much more extreme stellar population than Orion, with several very massive O3-type stars. However, the proplyds that we have detected in Carina are somewhat larger than those in Orion, and present the interesting question of why large proplyds like this have not already been seen there, where they could have been detected with ease. Perhaps the larger proplyds in Carina correspond to more massive disks around intermediate-mass YSO's in the H II region, like progenitors of Herbig Ae/Be stars that should be plentiful. In any case, more compact proplyds may still be lurking in the Carina Nebula, waiting to be discovered by HST.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.