High-angular-resolution NIR view of the Orion Bar revealed by Keck/NIRC2^★

¹ Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, 91405 Orsay, France
e-mail: emilie.habart@ias.u-psud.fr
² Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, 38000 Grenoble, France
³ Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), 300 rue de la piscine, 38406 Saint-Martin-d’Hères, France
⁴ W.M. Keck Observatory, 65-1120 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kamuela, HI, USA
⁵ Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London ON N6A 3K7, Canada
⁶ Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario, London ON N6A 3K7, Canada
⁷ Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, 339 Bernardo Avenue, Suite 200, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
⁸ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, 9 Av. du colonel Roche, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 04, France
⁹ Astronomy Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
¹⁰ Instituto de Física Fundamental (IFF), CSIC, Calle Serrano 121–123, 28006 Madrid, Spain
¹¹ Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, 439 92 Onsala, Sweden
¹² LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, 92190 Meudon, France
¹³ I. Physikalisches Institut der Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Straße 77, 50937 Köln, Germany

Received: 16 May 2022
Accepted: 28 June 2022

Abstract

Context. Nearby photo-dissociation regions (PDRs), where the gas and dust are heated by the far-ultraviolet (FUV) irradiation emitted from stars, are ideal templates with which to study the main stellar feedback processes.

Aims. With this study, we aim to probe the detailed structures at the interfaces between ionized, atomic, and molecular gas in the Orion Bar. This nearby prototypical strongly irradiated PDR are among the first targets of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) within the framework of the PDRs4All Early Release Science program.

Methods. We employed the subarcsecond resolution accessible with Keck-II NIRC2 and its adaptive optics system to obtain images of the vibrationally excited line H₂ 1−0 S(1) at 2.12 µm that are more detailed and complete than ever before. H₂ 1−0 S(1) traces the dissociation front (DF), and the [FeII] and Brγ lines, at 1.64 and 2.16 µm, respectively, trace the ionization front (IF). The former is a powerful tracer of the FUV radiation field strength and gas density distribution at the PDR edge, while the last two trace the temperature and density distribution from the ionized gas to the PDR. We obtained narrow-band filter images in these key gas line diagnostics over ~40″ at spatial scales of ~0.1″ (~0.0002 pc or ~40 AU at 414 pc).

Results. The Keck/Near Infrared Camera 2 (NIRC2) observations spatially resolve a plethora of irradiated substructures such as ridges, filaments, globules, and proplyds. This portends what JWST should accomplish and how it will complement the highest resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) maps of the molecular cloud. We observe a remarkable spatial coincidence between the H₂ 1−0 S(1) vibrational and HCO⁺ J = 4−3 rotational emission previously obtained with ALMA. This likely indicates the intimate link between these two molecular species and highlights that in high-pressure PDRs, the H/H₂ and C⁺/C/CO transitions zones come closer than in a typical layered structure of a constant density PDR. The H/H₂ dissociation front appears as a highly structured region containing substructures with a typical thickness of a few ~10⁻³ pc.