Speaker
Anna Faye Mc Leod
(ESO)
Description
The results of the first publication from our FuSIOn (Feedback in massive star forming regions: from SImulations to Observations) project, in which we seek to validate the predictions of numerical simulations of star forming clouds that include feedback in the form of stellar winds and photo-ionisation by comparing them with observations, are presented. We observed the iconic Pillars of Creation in M16 with the integral field spectrograph MUSE at the VLT: for the first time in the long and rich research history of this region, it was possible to study the ionisation structure of the Pillars (which suffer from the feedback from massive O and B type stars in their vicinity) in great detail over the entire visible wavelength range and map the gas kinematics and the relevant physical parameters (e.g. line of sight velocity, extinction, electron density, electron temperature, as well as integrated intensity and line ratios). We report the presen ce of a previously undetected protostellar bipolar outflow at the tip of one of the Pillars and estimate the expected life-time of these structures. Finally, we discuss the comparison with our simulations and radiative transfer calculations.
Author
Anna Faye Mc Leod
(ESO)