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| Aquila Molecular Cloud Complex | |
|---|---|
| Name | Aquila Molecular Cloud Complex |
| Type | Molecular cloud complex |
| Constellation | Aquila |
| Distance | ~260–700 pc |
| Mass | ~10^4–10^5 M☉ |
| Notable | Serpens South, W40, MWC 297 |
Aquila Molecular Cloud Complex
The Aquila Molecular Cloud Complex is a prominent star-forming molecular cloud system located in the constellation Aquila near the plane of the Milky Way, associated with multiple star-forming regions including Serpens South and the W40 cluster. It has been mapped and analyzed by projects using facilities such as the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and the Very Large Array, and it plays a key role in comparative studies involving the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and the Perseus Molecular Cloud.
The complex occupies a region overlapping the constellations Aquila and Serpens and connects to nearby objects such as the Aquila Rift, the Serpens Main cluster, and the Ophiuchus cloud, attracting surveys from teams associated with the Gould Belt Survey, the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey, and the c2d legacy program. Researchers from institutions like the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have focused on its filamentary networks, dense cores, and embedded clusters, comparing its star-formation efficiency to that of regions studied by the European Southern Observatory and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The complex exhibits a filamentary structure composed largely of molecular hydrogen with traces of carbon monoxide, ammonia, and dust grains studied via spectral lines observed by ALMA, the IRAM 30m telescope, and the Nobeyama Radio Observatory, while chemical inventories reference work by groups at the Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble and the Leiden Observatory. Dense clumps and cores within filaments show mass distributions and temperature gradients similar to those cataloged in surveys by the JCMT Gould Belt Survey and the Herschel Gould Belt Survey teams, and dust continuum maps have been compared to models from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Star formation in the complex produces populations of Class 0, Class I, and Class II young stellar objects identified with Spitzer, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Hubble Space Telescope imaging analyzed by collaborations including the Chandra Orion Ultradeep Project and the MYStIX team, and these YSO populations have been cross-referenced with catalogs from the Two Micron All Sky Survey and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer legacy data. Prominent protostellar clusters like Serpens South and W40 host protostars, T Tauri stars, and potential Herbig Ae/Be candidates that have been discussed in papers from the Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Astronomy & Astrophysics, with comparison to clusters studied by the Submillimeter Array and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
Distance estimates to portions of the complex vary, with parallaxes from the Gaia mission and radio maser measurements from the Very Long Baseline Array suggesting values spanning ~260 pc to ~700 pc; teams at the European Space Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have contributed to resolving these distances. Kinematic studies using CO and NH3 line surveys by the FCRAO, the Mopra telescope, and the IRAM consortium reveal velocity gradients, inflow motions, and turbulent linewidths that have been interpreted within frameworks developed by researchers at Princeton University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Cambridge University.
Historical identification of the Aquila Rift dates to optical nebulae catalogs and radio surveys by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory and earlier photographic work at the Palomar Observatory, while modern characterization relied on infrared and submillimeter surveys from Spitzer, Herschel, Planck, and SCUBA-2 with data products processed by teams at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Large collaborative programs such as the Gould Belt Survey, the Bolocam survey, and targeted campaigns by the ALMA Partnership have produced catalogs and maps cited in publications by the Royal Astronomical Society, the American Astronomical Society, and the International Astronomical Union.
The complex is spatially and physically associated with nearby nebulae and associations including the Aquila Rift, the Serpens Main cluster, the W40 H II region, and the embedded cluster surrounding MWC 297, and it has been linked in comparative studies to the Orion Nebula Cluster, the Perseus OB2 association, and the Taurus Molecular Cloud. These relationships have been discussed in contexts involving stellar clusters cataloged by SIMBAD, kinematic groups identified by the Radcliffe Institute, and feedback processes examined in work from the Kavli Institute and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
As a relatively nearby and actively star-forming complex, it provides an observational laboratory for testing theories developed at institutions such as the Institute for Advanced Study, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, and the California Institute of Technology regarding filament formation, core collapse, and clustered star formation, and it contributes to our understanding of the Milky Way's structure alongside regions studied by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Gaia Collaboration, and the Planck mission. Studies of its initial mass function, feedback from young massive stars, and chemical evolution have implications referenced in monographs from Cambridge University Press, conference proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, and review articles in Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
Category:Molecular clouds Category:Star-forming regions