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Extremely Low Mass: The Circumstellar Envelope of a Potential Proto-Brown DwarfWhat is the environment for planet formation around extremely low mass stars? Is the environment around brown dwarfs and extremely low mass stars conducive and sufficiently massive for planet production? The determining conditions may be set very early in the process of the host object's formation. IRAS 16253-2429, the source of the Wasp-Waist Nebula seen in Spitzer IRAC images, is an isolated, very low luminosity ("VeLLO") Class 0 protostar in the nearby rho Ophiuchi cloud. We present VLA ammonia mapping observations of the dense gas envelope feeding the central core accreting system. We find a flattened envelope perpendicular to the outflow axis, and gas cavities that appear to cradle the outflow lobes as though carved out by the flow and associated (apparently precessing) jet, indicating environmental disruption. Based on the NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) emission distribution, we derive the mass, velocity fields and temperature distribution for the envelope. We discuss the combined evidence for this source to be one of the youngest and lowest mass sources in formation yet known, and discuss the ramifications for planet formation potential in this extremely low mass system.
Document ID
20110020761
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Wiseman, Jennifer (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
September 10, 2011
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.ABS.5428.2011
GSFC.ABS.5169.2011
Meeting Information
Meeting: ESO: Formation and Early Evolution of Very Low Mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs
Location: Garching
Country: Germany
Start Date: October 11, 2011
End Date: October 14, 2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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