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STAR FORMATION
Monitoring Methanol Masers
Taking advantage of the 26-m radio telescopes and methanol receivers (6.7 GHz and 12.2 GHz) at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, I recently began a new monitoring program of
regions of massive star formation. These sets of observations are being done in collaboration with Randy Booker (University of North Carolina-Asheville) and Charles Osborne (PARI). We began mapping these
regions in n Fall 2001.
2 Micron Polarization of the Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula Bar is a nearly edge-on transition zone between the HII region created by the Trapezium stars and neutral gas
to the south. Polarimetric images centered on the Trapezium at J (1.25 microns), H (1.65 microns), and K (2.2 microns) were obtained on 23 November 1993 using the Simultaneous Quad-color Infrared Imaging
Device (SQIID; Ellis 1992) and half-wave plate mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the KPNO 1.3-m telescope. Four sets of 5.3 x 5.3 square arcmin images were made with the half-wave plate set at angles
of 0, 22.5, 45, and 67.5 degrees. The half-wave plate does not transmit at L (3.6 mm), so there is no L data. HD 18881, HD 40335, and HD 203856 were observed to establish photometric calibration.
From field stars in the images of AFGL 437, taken with the same instrumental setup during this same observing run (Weintraub & Kastner, 1995), we determined that the instrumental polarization is less
than a few tenths of a 1%.
The near-infrared electric field vectors are parallel to the Bar with the lowest amount of polarization in the Bar and the highest polarizations
occur near the edges of the Bar. The average amount of polarization at J, H, and K is 4%, 6%, and 10%, respectively. The average position angles at J, H, and K are about 150, 135, and 110, degrees,
respectively. Based on Hubble's relation, we show that neither IRc2/BN nor the Trapezium stars are responsible for the polarization. Also, we show that it is unlikely that dichroic absorption dominates the
near-infrared polarization in the Bar because the time needed to align grains is greater than the time needed to disalign grains. The
characteristics of the polarization are consistent with a scattering model, however, where the source of illumination may be the Bar itself. The
electric field vectors are parallel to the Bar and the H-K color through the Bar becomes increasingly blue towards the edges of the Bar where
the polarization is highest. You can receive a preprint of the paper upon request. This paper has not been published, and is now a bit dated, with the data being taken in 1995.
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