SMA Research: Massive Star-Forming Region G31.41
 

The background shows a three-color Spitzer image of the massive star-forming region G31.41. Blue color represents the Spitzer image at 3.6 micron, green at 8 micron, and red at 24 micron. The zoom-in region depicts the 870 micron dust emission obtained from the Submillimeter Array of the massive hot molecular core in G31.41 (color and contour image) superposed with bars outlining the direction of magnetic fields. Pictured in the bottom of the image is the SMA on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. This study by Girart, Rao, Zhang, Beltran and Estalella (Science, 2009) demonstrates the importance of magnetic field during the collapse of massive molecular cloud core.

Science Publication

  • Josep M. Girart, Maria T. Beltran, Qizhou Zhang, Ramprasad Rao, Robert Estalella, Magnetic Fields in the Formation of Massive Stars, Science, 2009, 324, 1408, (ADS | astro-ph)
  •   G31.41

    Josep Miquel Girart (CSIC-IEEC), Nimesh Patel (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and Manel Carrillo