Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite Observationsof Extended Water Emission in Orion

R. L. Snell; J. E. Howe; M. L. N. Ashby; E. A. Bergin; G. Chin; N. R. Erickson; P. F. Goldsmith; M. Harwit; S. C. Kleiner; D. G. Koch; D. A. Neufeld; B. M. Patten; R. Plume; R. Schieder; J. R. Stauffer; V. Tolls; Z. Wang; G. Winnewisser; Y. F. Zhang; G. J. Melnick

doi:10.1086/312855

Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite Observations of Extended Water Emission in Orion

R. L. Snell¹, J. E. Howe¹, M. L. N. Ashby², E. A. Bergin², G. Chin³, N. R. Erickson¹, P. F. Goldsmith⁴, M. Harwit⁵, S. C. Kleiner², D. G. Koch⁶, D. A. Neufeld⁷, B. M. Patten², R. Plume², R. Schieder⁸, J. R. Stauffer², V. Tolls², Z. Wang², G. Winnewisser⁸, Y. F. Zhang², and G. J. Melnick²

Published 2000 August 16 • © 2000. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 539, Number 2 Citation R. L. Snell et al 2000 ApJ 539 L93 DOI 10.1086/312855

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Author affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003

² Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

³ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771

⁴ National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853-6801

⁵ 511 H Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2725; also Cornell University

⁶ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035

⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

⁸ I. Institut Physikalisches, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Strasse 77, D-50937 Köln, Germany

Dates

Received 1999 December 7
Accepted 2000 June 20
Published 2000 August 16

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Abstract

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite to map the ground-state 1₁₀ → 1₀₁ transition of ortho-H₂O at 557 GHz in the Orion molecular cloud. H₂O emission was detected in Orion over an angular extent of about 20', or nearly 3 pc. The water emission is relatively weak, with line widths (3-6 km s^-1) and V_LSR velocities (9-11 km s^-1) consistent with an origin in the cold gas of the molecular ridge. We find that the ortho-H₂O abundance relative to H₂ in the extended gas in Orion varies between 1 and 8 × 10^-8, with an average of 3 × 10^-8. The absence of detectable narrow-line ortho-H₂¹⁸O emission is used to set a 3 σ upper limit on the relative ortho-H₂O abundance of 7 × 10^-8.

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