Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Astrophysics

Multi-molecular views of a stellar nursery

Nature volume 546, pages 37–39 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

New detectors for radio telescopes can map emissions from many different molecules simultaneously across interstellar clouds. One such pioneering study has probed a wide area of a star-forming cloud in the Orion constellation.

An ambitious programme is seeking to boost a new era in star-formation astrophysics by mapping and studying a large region of the giant interstellar cloud Orion B, which contains the Horsehead nebula. The Outstanding Radio-Imaging of Orion B (ORION-B) project (see go.nature.com/2rca5py) focuses on its namesake as an archetype of an active star-forming environment, combining wide-area mapping with an analysis in which many milllimetre-wavelength spectral lines are studied simultaneously. Writing in three papers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, the ORION-B project team now reports maps and analyses of Orion B that reveal the power of this kind of study1,2,3.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Mapping Orion B.

A, Bob Fera; B, P. Gratier et al./Ref. 3

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Pety, J. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 599, A98 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Orkisz, J. H. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 599, A99 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gratier, P. et al. Astron. Astrophys. 599, A100 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wilson, R. W., Jefferts, K. B. & Penzias, A. A. Astrophys. J. 161, L43 (1970).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Carruthers, G. R. Astrophys. J. 161, L81 (1970).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Heyer, M. & Dame, T. M. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 53, 583–629 (2015).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bolatto, A., Wolfire, M. & Leroy, A. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 51, 207–268 (2013).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wiseman, J. & Adams, F. C. Astrophys. J. 435, 708–721 (1994).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Astrophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 20771, Maryland, USA

    Jennifer Wiseman & Marta Sewilo

Authors
  1. Jennifer Wiseman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marta Sewilo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jennifer Wiseman or Marta Sewilo.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Astrophysics: A dark cloud unveils its secrets

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wiseman, J., Sewilo, M. Multi-molecular views of a stellar nursery. Nature 546, 37–39 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22499

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22499

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing