Article contents
Uncovering the earliest stages of massive star formation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2005
Abstract
Massive stars begin their lives in cold, dense cores which are much more massive than the stars which form in them. We summarise the results of a program to find the earliest examples of massive star formation, and to examine the evolutionary sequence of events that occurs as such a star begins to form and heat its surroundings. Methanol maser emission has proved to be a particularly potent tool to locate such cores, though there are also clearly many massive cores which do not exhibit such maser emission. Our program began with a survey for 6.6 GHz methanol maser emission, but expanded to include dust continuum surveys in the mm and sub–mm, a survey for hot molecular cores associated with ‘isolated’ masers through mm-line CH3CN emission, and follow-up probing of some cores through sub-arcsecond, diffraction limited observations in the mid–IR. This program is outlined below.
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S227: Massive Star Birth: A Crossroads of Astrophysics , May 2005 , pp. 157 - 162
- Copyright
- © 2005 International Astronomical Union
- 2
- Cited by