Star formation in Orion B

2026-04-16T00:00:00Z

Molecular emission often provide the best and sometime the only constraints on the physicalprocesses that govern star formation. Common molecules like CO (isotopologues), HCO+, HCN, N2H+, CH3OH etc can theoretically be used to constrain density, temperature and radiative structures. The utility of these molecular probes is currently limited, however, by lack of comprehensive data sets that connects emission patterns, and small and large-scale physical structures quantitatively. To address this we have acquired a complete 3mm spectral- image cube of the western edge of Orion B molecular cloud (160000 channels times 1 square degree). These observations will provide a complete picture of the distribution of molecular emission in this template star forming region, which we will use to calibrate popular molecular probes, developing their full potential as tools of Galactic and extra-galactic star formation explorations.

Centre de Conférences Jules Janssen

Star formation in Orion B