A 4-mm Spectral Line Survey of Orion-KL with the Green Bank Telescope
Abstract
The KL region of the Orion Giant Molecular Cloud is one of the nearest sites of massive star formation. Its proximity, size, and favorable position in the sky have made it an area of intense scientific study across multiple wavelengths. The new 4-mm receiver on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) was used to carry out a spectral-line survey between 67.0 and 93.6 GHz. In comparison to the best previous survey in this band by Turner (1989) using the NRAO 12-m telescope, the new survey is both significantly more sensitive and covers the poorly-explored frequencies at the low-frequency end of the 3-mm atmospheric window. The survey has detected new lines and identified several previously unidentified lines. Additionally, from this research a high school project was created where by students enrolled in an introductory astronomy course at Eleanor Roosevelt High School were able to explore the methodologies used by modern radio astronomers to determine the composition of molecular clouds. Students were expected to perform a procedure similar to that performed by the researchers to explore both how radio telescopes ‘see’ the universe and to use the frequency spectra acquired to determine which molecules are present in the Orion-KL Nebula. This work was supported in part by the NSF-RET and the NSF-REU programs. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221
- Pub Date:
- January 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22134913M