• DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/807/2/117
• Corpus ID: 119208158

MOLECULAR AND IONIZED HYDROGEN IN 30 DORADUS. I. IMAGING OBSERVATIONS

@article{Yeh2015MOLECULARAI,
  title={MOLECULAR AND IONIZED HYDROGEN IN 30 DORADUS. I. IMAGING OBSERVATIONS},
  author={Sherry C. C. Yeh and Ernest R. Seaquist and Christopher D. Matzner and Eric W. Pellegrini},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal},
  year={2015},
  volume={807}
}

• S. Yeh, E. Seaquist, +1 author E. Pellegrini
• Published 20 April 2015
• Physics
• The Astrophysical Journal

We present the first fully calibrated H2 1–0 S(1) image of the entire 30 Doradus nebula. The observations were conducted using the NOAO Extremely Wide-field Infrared Imager (NEWFIRM) on the CTIO 4 m Blanco Telescope. Together with a NEWFIRM Brγ image of 30 Doradus, our data reveal the morphologies of the warm molecular gas and ionized gas in 30 Doradus. The brightest H2-emitting area, which extends from the northeast to the southwest of R136, is a photodissociation region (PDR) viewed face-on, while many clumps and pillar features located at the outer shells of 30 Doradus are PDRs viewed edge-on. Based on the morphologies of H2, Brγ, CO, and 8 μm emission, the H2 to Brγ line ratio, and Cloudy models, we find that the H2 emission is formed inside the PDRs of 30 Doradus, 2–3 pc to the ionization front of the H ii region, in a relatively low-density environment <104 cm−3. Comparisons with Brγ, 8 μm, and CO emission indicate that H2 emission is due to fluorescence, and provide no evidence for shock excited emission of this line.