articleAstronomy and AstrophysicsMar 7, 2011BRONZE OA

Characterizing interstellar filaments with Herschel in IC 5146

Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers · +22 more institutions

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Abstract

We provide a first look at the results of the Herschel Gould Belt survey toward the IC 5146 molecular cloud and present a preliminary analysis of the filamentary structure in this region. The column density map, derived from our 70–500 μm Herschel data, reveals a complex network of filaments and confirms that these filaments are the main birth sites of prestellar cores. We analyze the column density profiles of 27 filaments and show that the underlying radial density profiles fall off as r-1.5 to r-2.5 at large radii. Our main result is that the filaments seem to be characterized by a narrow distribution of widths with a median value of 0.10 ± 0.03 pc, which is in stark contrast to a much broader distribution…

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Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Physics
  • Molecular cloud
  • Astrophysics
  • Protein filament
  • Turbulence
  • Dissipation
  • Star formation
  • Interstellar medium
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Life below water
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