“Pillars of Creation” in 30 Doradus/Large Magellanic Cloud

Indebetouw et al. present ALMA observations of 30 Doradus and the highest resolution view of molecular gas in an extragalactic star formation region to date (~0.4 pc × 0.6 pc). The 30Dor-10 cloud north of R136 was mapped in 12CO 2–1, 13CO 2–1, C18O 2–1, 1.3 mm continuum, the H30α recombination line, and two H2CO 3–2 transitions. 12CO emission is associated with small filaments and clumps (0.1pc, 103 M⊙), including protostars and “pillars of creation” photoablated by intense radiation from R136. Clumps in 30 Dor follow trends in size, line width, and surface density similar to massive clumps in the Milky Way. The consistency of clump masses calculated from dust continuum, CO, and the virial theorem reveals that the CO abundance in 30 Doradus clumps is not significantly different from the Large Magellanic Cloud average, but the dust abundance may be reduced by ~2x.

Figure: ALMA CO 2-1 contours plus Spitzer multi-color imaging (Red, green, blue: 7.9, 5.8, 3.6 μm, respectively) of 30 Dor.R136 is the blue cluster located south of the ALMA field of view.

View Publication: ALMA Resolves 30 Doradus: Sub-parsec Molecular Cloud Structure near the Closest Super Star Cluster,Remy Indebetouw (NRAO, Virginia), Crystal Brogan (NRAO), C.-H. Rosie Chen (MPIfR), Adam Leroy (NRAO), Kelsey Johnson (Virginia), Erik Muller (NAOJ), Suzanne Madden (Saclay), Diane Cormier (Heidelberg), Frederic Galliano (Saclay), Annie Hughes (MPIfA), Todd Hunter (NRAO), Akiko Kawamura (NAOJ), Amanda Kepley (NRAO), Vianney Lebouteiller (Saclay), Margaret Meixner (STScI), Joana M. Oliveira (Keele), Toshikazu Onishi (Osaka), and Tatiana Vasyunina (Virginia), 2013 ApJ, 774, 73 (1 Sep 2013).

Added 17 Jan 2014

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