First Evidence of a Precessing Jet Excavating a Protostellar Envelope

Jason E. Ybarra, Mary Barsony, Karl E. Haisch, Jr., Thomas H. Jarrett, Raghvendra Sahai, Alycia J. Weinberger
2006 Astrophysical Journal  
We present new, sensitive, near-infrared images of the Class I protostar, Elias 29, in the Ophiuchus cloud core. To explore the relationship between the infall envelope and the outflow, narrowband H2 1-0 S(1), Br-gamma, and narrowband K-continuum filters were used to image the source with the Wide-Field Infrared Camera on the Hale 5m telescope and with Persson's Auxiliary Nasmyth Infrared Camera on the Baade 6.5 m telescope. The source appears as a bipolar, scattered light nebula, with a wide
more » ... ening angle in all filters, as is typical for late-stage protostars. However, the pure H2 emission-line images point to the presence of a heretofore undetected precessing jet. It is argued that high-velocity, narrow, precessing jets provide the mechanism for creating the observed wide-angled outflow cavity in this source.
doi:10.1086/507449 fatcat:3y4t2apaobcopbgxxhuwci5w2y