A 1.3 cm wavelength radio flare from a deeply embedded source in the Orion BN/KL region

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel, 53121 Bonn, Germany e-mail: jforbrich@cfa.harvard.edu
² Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Received: 12 June 2007
Accepted: 2 November 2007

Abstract

Aims.Our aim was to measure and characterize the short-wavelength radio emission from young stellar objects (YSOs) in the Orion Nebula Cluster and the BN/KL star-forming region.

Methods.We used the NRAO Very Large Array at a wavelength of  cm and we studied archival X-ray, infrared, and radio data.

Results.During our observation, a strong outburst (flux increasing >10 fold) occurred in one of the 16 sources detected at  cm, while the others remained (nearly) constant. This source does not have an infrared counterpart, but has subsequently been observed to flare in X-rays. Curiously, a very weak variable double radio source was found at other epochs near this position, one of whose components is coincident with it. A very high extinction derived from modeling the X-ray emission and the absence of an infrared counterpart both suggest that this source is very deeply embedded.