Program: GS-2022A-Q-131

Title:GSAOI+GeMS High Resolution Images of Protostellar Jets: The Case of HH 137/138
PI:Leticia V. Ferrero
Co-I(s): Mercedes Gómez, Guillermo Günthardt

Abstract

This project proposes to map the complete extension of the HH137/138 jet, whose terminal part (about 98" x 98") was observed with GSAOI+GeMS in the 2014A semester (GS-2014A-Q-29). The images of HH 137 allowed determining the infrared counterpart of the optical HH object, discovered by Ogura (1993). In addition to this, larger field images of the region obtained by Sptizer show several emissions at [4.5] um delineating HH 138 and a 4.5 um-arc structure between HH 137 and HH 138. Moreover, 12^CO molecular emission lines led to the detection of three outflows in this region, two of them covering the extension of the jets HH 137/138 and coinciding with the 4.5 um-arc and a dense molecular core detected in HCO+ and HCN where a wide binary star, suspected to be the driving source, should be placed. To detect the near-infrared counterpart of HH 138, it is necessary to obtain deep H_2 images as well as to cover the complete length of the proposed jet HH137/138 (of about 2.6 pc). Deep K-band images will help to search for the exciting source/s and test the binary hypothesis as cause of the two of three outflows detected in molecular lines. Combination of GSAOI+GeMS images with archive IRAC/Spitzer, WISE, Herschel, ATLASGAL, and APEX, together with ACA/ALMA data (12^CO, 13^CO, C18^O, N2D+ and SiO), obtained from private consultation, will provide a more complete understanding of these particularly interesting object. The study of the HH 137/138 is part of a larger program aimed to characterize stellar jets with no-straight morphologies, very frequently associated with young forming stars of all masses.