High-resolution near-infrared study of the deeply embedded young stellar object S140 IRS 3
T. Preibisch Y. Balega, D. Schertl, M.D. Smith, and G. Weigelt
Abstract
We explore the structures immediately surrounding the high-mass young stellar object S140 IRS 3 within the L1204 molecular cloud. We have obtained a bispectrum speckle interferometric K-band image with a resolution of 150 mas and a seeing-limited molecular hydrogen line emission image of IRS 3. Our speckle image resolves IRS 3 into three point sources, a close binary with separation 0.63'' and a third component 1.3'' away. A rough assessment of the system stability suggests that the IRS 3 triple system is unstable. Our speckle image also reveals extended diffuse emission of very complex morphology around IRS 3. An extended diffuse feature north-east of IRS 3 displays a remarkable sf S-shaped structure. This feature is the innermost part of an at least 15'' long extended structure, which is pointing towards a bow-shock like patch located 90'' away from IRS 3. We find strong H2 line emission associated with this feature, suggesting the presence of shocks, caused by the collision of outflowing material with the ambient medium. The S-shaped structure of this feature can be well reproduced by a model assuming a precessing outflow from IRS 3a. Furthermore, we find several elongated features pointing away from IRS 3 in a southern direction. Some of these features also exhibit strong H2 line emission, demonstrating that IRS 3 drives outflows in several directions. Part of the results presented in this paper are based on observations obtained at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto, operated by the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy. The speckle observations were collected at the Special Astrophysical Observatory with the 6 m telecope.
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