Methanol was also revealed in an hourglass structure created by the gas outflows as they spread and thrust the ambient gas cloud away, according to a press release from ALMA. This is the first time that an hourglass structure was found in such a high-mass star region, because observations in those areas are difficult due to the complex environment and distance from Earth.
"We conducted radio observations of carbon monoxide and methanol to explore the details of the distribution and kinematics of gas in the region where high-mass stars are forming in clusters," Higuchi said, according to a press release by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. "A typical example of a high-mass star forming region is the Orion Nebula, but ALMA enabled us to see the complex formation environment of star clusters which is even 7 times farther away than the Orion Nebula with the highest imaging resolution ever achieved. ALMA will become indispensable for the future research on the high-mass star forming region."
The observation results were published as Higuchi et al. "IRAS 16547-4247: A New Candidate of a Protocluster Unveiled with ALMA" in the January 2015 issue of the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The research was conducted by: Aya Higuchi (Ibaraki University), Kazuya Saigo (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), James Chibueze (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/University of Nigeria), Patricio Sanhueza (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Shigehisa Takakuwa (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics) and Guido Garay (University of Chile).
The research is supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "New Frontiers of Extrasolar Planets: Exploring Terrestrial Planets". According to the press releases, Guide Garay is supported by CONICYT project PFB-06.
