EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 440/1 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 440, Number 1, September II 2005
Page(s) 163 - 169
Section Interstellar and circumstellar matter
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20042276



A&A 440, 163-169 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20042276

Is G84.0+0.8 a high mass star formation site near the edge of the Pelican nebula?

F. Comerón1, A. Pasquali2 and J. Torra3

1  European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
    e-mail: fcomeron@eso.org
2  Institute of Astronomy, ETH Hoenggerberg, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
    e-mail: pasquali@phys.ethz.ch
3  Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
    e-mail: jordi@am.ub.es

(Received 28 October 2004 / Accepted 4 May 2005 )

Abstract
We present visible and near-infrared observations of the G84.0+0.8 HII region, a bright compact knot projected within the boundaries of the W80 complex dominated by the North America and Pelican nebulae. The spectrum of the nebula indicates a temperature of the ionizing stellar spectrum $T_* \simeq 40\,000{-}45\,000$ K (corresponding to a O7-O5 star) and a density of the HII region $n \simeq 460$ cm-3, with a foreground extinction of $A_{\rm V} \simeq 5.9$ mag. A comparison of narrow-band near-infrared images through the Br$\gamma$ and the H2  $S(1)~v=1 \rightarrow 0$ filters shows that G84.0+0.8 consists of a fan-shaped cavity in a molecular cloud at least partly bounded by a photodissociation region, filled with Br$\gamma$-emitting ionized gas, and with a compact cluster at the tip of the fan. The brightest star at the position of the cluster is found to be a late G-type interloper. While membership of G84.0+0.8 in the local arm is well established from existing radial velocity measurements of the ionized gas, we find that the ionizing flux estimated from the size and density of the nebula on the one hand, and the radio continuum properties of the nebula on the other hand, are well below the expected ionizing flux of a mid, or even late, O-type star. We consider the possibility that G84.0+0.8 might be externally ionized by a nearby mid-O star. Currently available observations do not definitely confirm or reject the membership of G84.0+0.8 in the W80 complex, although a larger distance seems favored by the available data. Nevertheless, we can firmly rule out the possibility that it represents a massive star forming site in that complex, as its appearance as a compact HII region containing an embedded cluster may lead one to think.


Key words: HII regions -- ISM: individual objects: G84.0+0.8 -- ISM: individual objects: W80

SIMBAD Objects



© ESO 2005


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.