| 1. |
- Tobin, John J., et al.
(författare)
-
The VLA/ALMA Nascent Disk and Multiplicity (VANDAM) Survey of Orion Protostars. II. A Statistical Characterization of Class 0 and Class i Protostellar Disks
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 890:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We have conducted a survey of 328 protostars in the Orion molecular clouds with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array at 0.87 mm at a resolution of ∼0.″1 (40 au), including observations with the Very Large Array at 9 mm toward 148 protostars at a resolution of ∼0.″08 (32 au). This is the largest multiwavelength survey of protostars at this resolution by an order of magnitude. We use the dust continuum emission at 0.87 and 9 mm to measure the dust disk radii and masses toward the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars, characterizing the evolution of these disk properties in the protostellar phase. The mean dust disk radii for the Class 0, Class I, and flat-spectrum protostars are 44.9-3.4+5.8, 37.0-3.0+4.9, and 28.5-2.3+3.7 au, respectively, and the mean protostellar dust disk masses are 25.9-4.0+7.7, 14.9-2.2+3.8, 11.6-1.9+3.5 M⊙, respectively. The decrease in dust disk masses is expected from disk evolution and accretion, but the decrease in disk radii may point to the initial conditions of star formation not leading to the systematic growth of disk radii or that radial drift is keeping the dust disk sizes small. At least 146 protostellar disks (35% of 379 detected 0.87 mm continuum sources plus 42 nondetections) have disk radii greater than 50 au in our sample. These properties are not found to vary significantly between different regions within Orion. The protostellar dust disk mass distributions are systematically larger than those of Class II disks by a factor of >4, providing evidence that the cores of giant planets may need to at least begin their formation during the protostellar phase.
|
|
| 2. |
- Jones, Geraint H., et al.
(författare)
-
The Comet Interceptor Mission
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Space Science Reviews. - : Springer Nature. - 0038-6308 .- 1572-9672. ; 220:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA’s F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum Δ V capability of 600 ms − 1 . Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes – B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 – that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission’s science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule.
|
|
| 3. |
- Yamato, Yoshihide, et al.
(författare)
-
The First Interferometric Measurements of NH 2 D/NH 3 Ratio in Hot Corinos
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 941:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The chemical evolution of nitrogen during star and planet formation is still not fully understood. Ammonia (NH3) is a key specie in the understanding of the molecular evolution in star-forming clouds and nitrogen isotope fractionation. In this paper, we present high-spatial-resolution observations of multiple emission lines of NH3 toward the protobinary system NGC1333 IRAS4A with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. We spatially resolved the binary (hereafter, 4A1 and 4A2) and detected compact emission of NH3 transitions with high excitation energies (≳100 K) from the vicinity of the protostars, indicating the NH3 ice has sublimated at the inner hot region. The NH3 column density is estimated to be ∼1017-1018 cm−2. We also detected two NH2D transitions, allowing us to constrain the deuterium fractionation of ammonia. The NH2D/NH3 ratios are as high as ∼0.3-1 in both 4A1 and 4A2. From comparisons with the astrochemical models in the literature, the high NH2D/NH3 ratios suggest that the formation of NH3 ices mainly started in the prestellar phase after the formation of bulk water ice finished, and that the primary nitrogen reservoir in the star-forming cloud could be atomic nitrogen (or N atoms) rather than nitrogen-bearing species such as N2 and NH3. The implications on the physical properties of IRAS4A’s cores are discussed as well.
|
|
