Orion as a Laboratory of Protostellar Evolution: Results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey
Date: Wed. February 4th, 2015, 11:00 am-1:00 pmLocation: Sears 552
Orion as a Laboratory of Protostellar Evolution: Results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey
Tom Megeath, University of Toledo
The Orion molecular clouds are a remarkable laboratory for studying star formation across the mass spectrum and across the full range of environments in which stars form, from crowded clusters containing massive stars to relatively isolated low mass star formation. I will present results from the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey, or HOPS, a study of over 300 protostar in the Orion clouds with the Herschel, Spitzer, Hubble and APEX telescopes. The goal of this study is to study low to intermediate mass protostars in the Orion molecular clouds (but outside the Orion Nebula) from the earliest phases through the termination of mass infall. By performing extensive multi-wavelength observation of a large sample of protostars and the dense gas from which they form, we can study the evolution of protostars and how environment influences the formation of stars. I will overview results from analyses of protostellar envelopes using 1.6-870 micron SEDs, of protostellar outflows with 57-196 micron far-IR spectroscopy, and the study of binaries and disks with high resolution imaging at 1.6 micron.