Resolving the Circumstellar Disk around the Massive Protostar Driving the HH 80-81 Jet
Abstract
We present new high angular resolution observations toward the driving source of the HH 80-81 jet (IRAS 18162-2048). Continuum emission was observed with the Very Large Array at 7 mm and 1.3 cm, and with the Submillimeter Array at 860 μm, with angular resolutions of ~0farcs1 and ~0farcs8, respectively. Submillimeter observations of the sulfur oxide (SO) molecule are reported as well. At 1.3 cm the emission traces the well-known radio jet, while at 7 mm the continuum morphology is quadrupolar and seems to be produced by a combination of free-free and dust emission. An elongated structure perpendicular to the jet remains in the 7 mm image after subtraction of the free-free contribution. This structure is interpreted as a compact accretion disk of ~200 AU radius. Our interpretation is favored by the presence of rotation in our SO observations observed at larger scales. The observations presented here add to the small list of cases where the hundred-AU scale emission from a circumstellar disk around a massive protostar has been resolved.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1088/2041-8205/752/2/L29
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1205.3302
- Bibcode:
- 2012ApJ...752L..29C
- Keywords:
-
- ISM: jets and outflows;
- radio continuum: ISM;
- stars: formation;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters