The Embedded Massive Star Forming Region RCW 38
Abstract
RCW 38 is a uniquely young (<1 Myr), embedded (A_V ∼ 10) stellar cluster surrounding a pair of early O stars (∼O5.5) and is one of the few regions within 2 kpc other than Orion to contain over 1000 members. X-ray and deep near-infrared observations reveal a dense cluster with over 200 X-ray sources and 400 infrared sources embedded in a diffuse hot plasma within a 1 pc diameter. The central O star has evacuated its immediate surroundings of dust, creating a wind bubble ∼0.1 pc in radius that is confined by the surrounding molecular cloud, as traced by millimeter continuum and molecular line emission. The interface between the bubble and cloud is a region of warm dust and ionized gas, which shows evidence for ongoing star formation. Extended warm dust is found throughout a 2--3 pc region and coincides with extended X-ray plasma. This is evidence that the influence of the massive stars reaches beyond the confines of the O star bubble. RCW 38 appears similar in structure to RCW 49 and M 20 but is at an earlier evolutionary phase. RCW 38 appears to be a blister compact H II region lying just inside the edge of a giant molecular cloud.
- Publication:
-
Handbook of Star Forming Regions, Volume II
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.0808.3385
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0808.3385
- Bibcode:
- 2008hsf2.book..124W
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 Pages, 5 figures (quality reduced). Part of Handbook of Star Forming Regions Vol. II. The Southern Sky B. Reipurth ed