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R. Benjamin (U of Wisconsin-Whitewater), GLIMPSE Team
We present images of several bowshock-shaped structures discovered as part of GLIMPSE, a Spitzer Legacy project using IRAC to map the inner Galactic plane. Analysis is presented of the first two objects discovered in the vicinity of RCW49. These objects are coincident with IRAS point sources: IRAS 10205-5729 and IRAS 10227-5730. MSX observations indicated that these sources were extended; the high angular resolution afforded by Spitzer Space Telescope show that the emission arises from bowshock shaped structure. 2MASS, Spitzer, MSX and IRAS observations are used to obtain the spectral energy distribution of these objects. We discuss how the morphology of these structures can be used constrain the density and velocity of both the stellar wind and the ambient interstellar medium. The discovery of several bowshock candidates using IRAC/Spitzer, and the recent Gemini discovery of a similar structure in the H and K bands towards the Galactic center source IRS 8, suggest that there may be many more detections of infrared stellar bowshocks yet to come.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: benjamir@uww.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.