Abstract
Massive stars inject mechanical and radiative energy into the surrounding environment, which stirs it up, heats the gas, produces cloud and intercloud phases in the interstellar medium, and disrupts molecular clouds (the birth sites of new stars1,2). Stellar winds, supernova explosions and ionization by ultraviolet photons control the lifetimes of molecular clouds3,4,5,6,7. Theoretical studies predict that momentum injection by radiation should dominate that by stellar winds8, but this has been difficult to assess observationally. Velocity-resolved large-scale images in the fine-structure line of ionized carbon ([C ii]) provide an observational diagnostic for the radiative energy input and the dynamics of the interstellar medium around massive stars. Here we report observations of a one-square-degree region (about 7 parsecs in diameter) of Orion molecular core 1—the region nearest to Earth that exhibits massive-star formation—at a resolution of 16 arcseconds (0.03 parsecs) in the [C ii] line at 1.9 terahertz (158 micrometres). The results reveal that the stellar wind originating from the massive star θ1 Orionis C has swept up the surrounding material to create a ‘bubble’ roughly four parsecs in diameter with a 2,600-solar-mass shell, which is expanding at 13 kilometres per second. This finding demonstrates that the mechanical energy from the stellar wind is converted very efficiently into kinetic energy of the shell and causes more disruption of the Orion molecular core 1 than do photo-ionization and evaporation or future supernova explosions.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets analysed during this study are available through the SOFIA Data Cycle System (https://dcs.arc.nasa.gov/dataRetrieval/SearchScienceArchiveInfoBasic.jsp) and can be retrieved by searching for the PI (Alexander Tielens) and instrument (GREAT).
References
McKee, C. F. & Ostriker, J. P. A theory of the interstellar medium: three components regulated by supernova explosions in an inhomogeneous substrate. Astrophys. J. 218, 148–169 (1977).
Kim, C.-G., Ostriker, E. C. & Kim, W.-T. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of multiphase galactic disks with star formation feedback. I. Regulation of star formation rates. Astrophys. J. 776, 1 (2013).
Williams, J. P. & McKee, C. F. The galactic distribution of OB associations in molecular clouds. Astrophys. J. 476, 166–183 (1997).
Wareing, C. J., Pittard, J. M., Wright, N. J. & Falle, S. A. E. G. A new mechanical stellar wind feedback model for the Rosette nebula. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 475, 3598–3612 (2018).
Naiman, J. P., Ramirez-Ruiz, E. & Lin, D. N. C. Stellar wind retention and expulsion in massive star clusters. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 478, 2794–2811 (2018).
Peters, T. et al. The SILCC project – IV. Impact of dissociating and ionizing radiation on the interstellar medium and Hα emission as a tracer of the star formation rate. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 466, 3293–3308 (2017).
Dale, J. E., Ngoumou, J., Ercolano, B. & Bonnell, I. A. Before the first supernova: combined effects of H II regions and winds on molecular clouds. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 442, 694–712 (2014).
Haid, S. et al. The relative impact of photoionizing radiation and stellar winds on different environments. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 478, 4799–4815 (2018).
Risacher, C. et al. The upGREAT 1.9 THz multi-pixel high resolution spectrometer for the SOFIA observatory. Astron. Astrophys. 595, A34 (2016).
Welty, D.E., Xue, R. & Wong, T. Interstellar H I and H2 in the Magellanic clouds: an expanded sample based on ultraviolet absorption-line data. Astrophys. J. 745, 173 (2012).
Jenkins, E. B. & Tripp, T. M. The distribution of thermal pressures in the diffuse, cold neutral medium of our Galaxy. II. An expanded survey of interstellar C I fine-structure excitations. Astrophys. J. 734, 65 (2011).
van der Werf, P. P., Goss, W. M. & O’Dell, C. R. Tearing the Veil: interaction of the Orion nebula with its neutral environment. Astrophys. J. 762, 101–126 (2013).
Güdel, M. et al. Million-degree plasma pervading the extended Orion nebula. Science 319, 309–312 (2008).
Howarth, I. D. & Prinja, R. K. The stellar winds of 203 Galactic O stars: a quantitative ultraviolet survey. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 69, 527–592 (1989).
Stahl, O. et al. Phase-locked photospheric and stellar-wind variations of θ1 Orionis C. Astron. Astrophys. 312, 539–548 (1996).
O’Dell, C. R., Ferland, G. J. & Peimbert, M. Structure and physical conditions in the Huygens region of the Orion nebula. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 464, 4835–4857 (2017).
Buckle, J. V. et al. The JCMT legacy survey of the Gould belt: mapping 13CO and C18O in Orion A. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 422, 521–541 (2012).
Hillenbrand, L. A. On the stellar population and star-forming history of the Orion nebula cluster. Astron. J. 113, 1733–1768 (1997).
Wilson, T. L., Filges, L., Codella, C., Reich, W. & Reich, P. Kinematics and electron temperatures in the core of Orion A. Astron. Astrophys. 327, 1177–1184 (1997).
Weaver, R., McCray, R., Castor, J., Shapiro, P. & Moore, R. Interstellar bubbles. II. Structure and evolution. Astrophys. J. 218, 377–395 (1977).
Henney, W. J. & O’Dell, C. R. A Keck high-resolution spectroscopic study of the Orion nebula proplyds. Astron. J. 118, 2350–2368 (1999).
Allen, C., Costero, R., Ruelas-Mayorga, A. & Sanchez, L. J. On the dynamical evolution of the Orion Trapezium. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 466, 4937–4953 (2017).
Flower, D. R. & Pineau Des Forêts, G. Excitation and emission of H2, CO and H2O molecules in interstellar shock waves. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 406, 1745–1758 (2010).
Hollenbach, D. J. & Tielens, A. G. G. M. Photodissociation regions in the interstellar medium of galaxies. Rev. Mod. Phys. 71, 173–230 (1999).
Pabst, C. H. M. et al. [C II] emission from L1630 in the Orion B molecular cloud. Astron. Astrophys. 606, A29 (2017).
Bakes, E. L. O. & Tielens, A. G. G. M. The photoelectric heating mechanism for very small graphitic grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Astrophys. J. 427, 822–838 (1994).
Ochsendorf, B., Brown, A., Bally, J. & Tielens, A. G. G. M. Nested shells reveal the rejuvenation of the Orion-Eridanus superbubble. Astrophys. J. 808, 111 (2015).
Kraus, S. et al. Tracing the young massive high-eccentricity binary system θ1 Orionis C through periastron passage. Astron. Astrophys. 497, 195–207 (2009).
Gatto, A. et al. The SILCC project – III. Regulation of star formation and outflows by stellar winds and supernovae. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 466, 1903–1924 (2017).
Naab, T. & Ostriker, J. P. Theoretical challenges in galaxy formation. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 55, 59–109 (2017).
Young, E. T. et al. Early science with SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy. Astrophys. J. 749, L17 (2012).
Guan, X. et al. GREAT/SOFIA atmospheric calibration. Astron. Astrophys. 542, L4 (2012).
Mangum, J. G., Emerson, D. T. & Greisen, E. W. The on the fly imaging technique. Astron. Astrophys. 474, 679–687 (2007).
Kester, D., Avruch, I. & Teyssier, D. Correction of electric standing waves. AIP Conf. Proc. 1636, 62–67 (2014).
Higgins, D. R. Advanced Optical Calibration of the Herschel HIFI Heterodyne Spectrometer. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland (2011).
Elmegreen, B. G. & Lada, C. J. Sequential formation of subgroups in OB associations. Astrophys. J. 214, 725–741 (1977).
Genzel, R. & Stutzki, J. The Orion molecular cloud and star-forming region. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 27, 41–85 (1989).
Großschedl, J. E. et al. 3D shape of Orion A from Gaia DR2. Astron. Astrophys. 619, A106 (2018).
Menten, K. M., Reid, M. J., Forbrich, J. & Brunthaler, A. The distance to the Orion nebula. Astron. Astrophys. 474, 515–520 (2007).
Zari, E., Brown, A. G. A., de Bruijne, J., Manara, C. F. & de Zeeuw, P. T. Mapping young stellar populations toward Orion with Gaia DR1. Astron. Astrophys. 608, A148 (2017).
Bally, J. in Handbook of Star Forming Regions: Volume I, The Northern Sky (ed. Reipurth, B.) 459–482 (ASP, San Francisco, 2008).
Balega, Yu. Yu., Chentsov, E. L., Rzaev, A. Kh. & Weigelt, G. Physical properties of the massive magnetic binary θ1 Ori C components. ASP Conf. Ser. 494, 57–62 (2015).
Grellmann, R. et al. The multiplicity of massive stars in the Orion nebula cluster as seen with long-baseline interferometry. Astron. Astrophys. 550, A82 (2013).
Muench, A., Getman, K., Hillenbrand, L. & Preibisch, T. in Handbook of Star Forming Regions: Volume I, The Northern Sky (ed. Reipurth, B.) 483–543 (ASP, San Francisco, 2008).
Leitherer, C. Observational and theoretical mass-loss rates of O stars in the Magellanic clouds. Astrophys. J. 334, 626–638 (1988).
Berné, O., Marcelino, N. & Cernicharo, J. IRAM 30 m large scale survey of 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) emission in the Orion molecular cloud. Astrophys. J. 795, 13 (2014).
Weingartner, J. C. & Draine, B. T. Dust grain-size distributions and extinction in the Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud. Astrophys. J. 548, 296–309 (2001).
Lombardi, M., Bouy, H., Alves, J. & Lada, C. J. Herschel-Planck dust optical-depth and column-density maps. I. Method description and results for Orion. Astron. Astrophys. 566, A45 (2014).
Ossenkopf, V. et al. Herschel/HIFI observations of [C II] and [13C II] in photon-dominated regions. Astron. Astrophys. 550, A57 (2013).
Tielens, A. G. G. M. & Hollenbach, D. J. Photodissociation regions. I. Basic model. Astrophys. J. 291, 722–746 (1985).
Penzias, A. A., Jefferts, K. B. & Wilson, R. W. 13C16O/12C18O ratios in nine H II regions. Astrophys. J. 178, L35–L38 (1972).
Sofia, U., Lauroesch, J. T., Meyer, D. M. & Cartledge, S. I. B. Interstellar carbon in translucent sight lines. Astrophys. J. 605, 272–277 (2004).
O’Dell, C. R., Walter, D. K. & Dufour, R. J. Extinction and scattering in the Orion nebula: comparison of optical and VLA 21 centimeter studies. Astrophys. J. 399, L67–L70 (1992).
O’Dell, C. R. & Yusef-Zadeh, F. High angular resolution determination of extinction in the Orion nebula. Astron. J. 120, 382–392 (2000).
Goicoechea, J. R. et al. Velocity-resolved [C II] emission and [C II]/FIR mapping along Orion with Herschel. Astrophys. J. 812, 75 (2015).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the work during the upGREAT square-degree survey of Orion of the USRA and NASA staff of the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale and of the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut. Research on the interstellar medium at Leiden Observatory is supported through a Spinoza award. We thank the ERC and the Spanish MCIU for funding support under grants ERC-2013-Syg-610256-NANOCOSMOS and AYA2017-85111-P, respectively.
Reviewer information
Nature thanks J. Fischer, L. Lopez and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
J.R.G., D.T., O.B., M.W. and A.G.G.M.T. conceived the Orion square-degree survey and wrote the proposal for SOFIA. R.H., D.T., E.C. and J.R.G. optimized the observing strategy for the survey. R.G., J.S., U.U.G., R.H., C.R. and C.P. carried out the observations. E.C. was responsible for the link to the SOFIA Science Center. R.H., assisted by C.P., was responsible for the data reduction. C.P. was responsible for the analysis and interpretation of the [C ii] and Herschel data. S.T.S. compared the [C ii] data with molecular observations. A.G.G.M.T. provided overall guidance and wrote the paper, with contributions from all co-authors.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Extended data figures and tables
Extended Data Fig. 1 Outline of the region mapped in the 1.9-THz [C ii] line with upGREAT on SOFIA.
The 78 tiles indicated were used to construct the final map. The background image is the 70-μm Herschel/PACS dust emission. The yellow contours correspond to an approximated far-ultraviolet radiation field of G0 = 50 (in Habing units). The colour of each tile indicates its corresponding OFF position: blue tiles use the COFF-SE1 position, red tiles use COFF-OFF1 and green tiles use COFF-C. Each square tile has a side length of 435.6 arcsec. The black box at the centre indicates the region mapped by the single-pixel Herschel/HIFI instrument in 9 h55. The total observing time for the SOFIA/upGREAT map was 42 h.
Extended Data Fig. 2 Sample 1.9-THz [C ii] spectra in our data cube.
a, Spectrum obtained at the map centre (RA = 5 h 35 min 17 s; dec. = −5° 22′ 16.9″). b, Average spectrum over the entire map.
Extended Data Fig. 3 Schematic of the large-scale (about 350 pc) structure of Orion.
The locations of the massive stars of the Orion constellation are marked with green stars (shoulders and knees; the belt is indicated by a single star; M42 is at the tip of the sword). The two giant molecular clouds A and B are shown in blue, and the prominent H ii regions are indicated by the green area, which includes M42 and the Trapezium cluster. Barnard’s loop, which is very prominent in Hα, is indicated by the red line. The bubble surrounding λ Ori (grey) is also indicated (red, ionized gas; blue, swept-up molecular shell), as are the boundaries of the superbubble (yellow dashed and dotted lines). Diffuse ionized gas is indicated in grey. The approximate locations of the Orion OB sub-associations—Ia, Ib, Ic and Id—are marked in green. The dotted line labelled b = 0 indicates the Galactic plane.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Overview of the star-forming region in Orion.
The approximate boundaries of the Orion OB associations Ib and Ic are indicated by dashed ellipses. The Orion Id association is directly associated with the molecular cloud behind the Orion nebula, M42. The reddish glow is due to the Hα line, which originates from recombinations in the ionized gas of Barnard’s loop. The belt stars and the knees are obvious. The size of the image is approximately 10° on the sky.
Extended Data Fig. 5 Composite infrared and X-ray views of the Orion region of massive star formation.
The [C ii] integrated intensity map is shown by the colour scale. The X-ray emission (from XMM-Newton) is outlined by a green contour. The hot gas probably entirely fills the bubble, but absorption by the Veil extinguishes the left side. The position of θ1 Ori C (RA(J2000) = 5 h 35 min 16.46 s, dec.(J2000) = −5° 23′ 22.8″) is indicated by a blue star.
Extended Data Fig. 6 Composite figure showing the [C ii] emission in different velocity channels.
With increasing vLSR, the shell is displaced outwards, away from the centre of the bubble. This is the kinematic signature of an expanding half-shell. Each colour outlines the emission boundaries of channels 1 km s−1 wide from vLSR = 0 to vLSR = 7 km s−1. The origin (magenta star) corresponds to the position of θ1 Ori C (RA(J2000) = 5 h 35 min 16.46 s, dec.(J2000) = −5° 23′ 22.8″). In the velocity range 4–7 km s−1, [C ii] emission associated with OMC-4 starts to fill in the interior of the bubble. OMC-4 is a star-forming core near the front of the background molecular cloud and is not part of the Veil bubble.
Extended Data Fig. 7 Four exemplary position–velocity diagrams of the [C ii] emission from selected cuts across the Veil.
Each position–velocity diagram exhibits a clear arc structure extending over about 2,500″, which corresponds to the expanding Veil shell (C.P. et al., manuscript in preparation). The left (right) two panels are cuts along the horizontal (vertical) axis.
Extended Data Fig. 8 Far-infrared dust emission in Orion.
Left, optical depth map of the dust emission at 160 μm (τ160), which traces the mass of the shell. The two large circles indicate the extent of the shell used to determine the mass of the limb-brightened shell. The small circle (‘OMC1’) circumscribes the Huijgens region associated with the Trapezium stars. We estimated the mass that is enclosed between the two large circles, excluding the Huijgens region. Right, SED of the dust emission observed for different positions in Orion; Fλ is the observed flux. These SEDs are analysed to determine the dust and gas mass. Data and curves represent observed SEDs and model fits for β = 2, respectively. The legend shows the resulting dust temperature Td and τ160. These SED fits were analysed for each spatial point and the resulting τ160 values were used to construct the map shown in the left panel.
Extended Data Fig. 9 Average spectra from the shell.
These spectra are dominated by the [C ii] line from the main isotope and show the weak hyperfine component of 13C+ near vLSR = 20 km s−1. This line is used to estimate the optical depth of the main isotope line and thus the mass of the emitting gas. The red spectrum corresponds to the area between the two large circles in Extended Data Fig. 8, but excluding Huijgens region in the small circle. The blue spectrum is an average over the bright parts in the eastern shell, in the declination range −5° 35′ to −5° 45′. The inset shows a close-up of the (faint) [13C ii] line in the average shell spectrum.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pabst, C., Higgins, R., Goicoechea, J.R. et al. Disruption of the Orion molecular core 1 by wind from the massive star θ1 Orionis C. Nature 565, 618–621 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0844-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0844-1
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.