An unbiased H₂ survey for protostellar jets in Orion A^*

II. The infrared survey data

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
² Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany e-mail: mjm & hzinnecker@aip.de

Corresponding author: T. Stanke, tstanke@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Received: 14 March 2002
Accepted: 23 May 2002

Abstract

We have made an unbiased imaging survey of a 1.2 square degree area in the Orion A giant molecular cloud searching for molecular hydrogen emission line features seen in the –0 S(1) line at a wavelength of 2.12 μm originating in shocks in outflows from young stellar objects. This survey provides for the first time an unbiased census of outflows over a significant portion of a giant molecular cloud, and yields a sample of outflows free from selection effects and with all objects located at roughly the same, well-known distance. In this paper, we present the data gathered in the course of the survey, provide a comprehensive list of all molecular hydrogen emission features found, and give a list of the 76 candidate outflows identified in the data set.