TOPIC 01
The Magnificent World of the Interstellar Medium
The Subaru Telescope already showed its superior performance during the adjustment period after its first light. The Cooled Infrared Spectrograph and Camera for OHS (CISCO), which started its operation in the earliest days of the Subaru Telescope, demonstrated the ability of the telescope to detect infrared rays in observations of several ionized gas clouds floating between stars. The sharp infrared image of the Orion Nebula marked the spectacular debut of the Subaru Telescope.
- [Press Release] The First Light of the Subaru Telescope
- [Reference] Kaifu et al. 2000, PASJ, 5, 1, “The First Light of the Subaru Telescope: A New Infrared Image of the Orion Nebula”
The infrared image of the star-forming region S106 taken right after the start of open use also made a striking impression on everyone who saw it. Over 600 newborn stars have been detected in this image, and their spatial distribution revealed that the heavier the stars, the more likely they were to be formed near the center of the nebula.
- [Press Release] Subaru Stares into a Cradle of Stars
- [Picture of the Week] Star-forming Region S106 IRS4
- [Reference] Oasa et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 1608, “Very Low Luminosity Young Cluster and the Luminosity and Mass Functions in S106”
By using the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) and the Cooled Mid-infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS), the Subaru Telescope also revealed the complex multiplex structures of interstellar gas distributed around young stars born in the M17 nebula. These are valuable observations that could elucidate the mechanism of gas flows toward newborn stars.
- [Press Release] Silhouette Reveals Hidden Shape of Young Star’s Envelope
- [Reference] Sako et al. 2005, Nature, 434, 995, “No high-mass protostars in the silhouette young stellar object M17-SO1”