Presentation Archive

High mass star formation & highlights from the Herschel imaging survey of OB Young Stellar objects (HOBYS)

Cassandra Fallscheer

June 24, 2013

Abstract: High mass stars (>8 M_sun) strongly affect their surroundings by inducing star formation, heating and ionizing the interstellar medium and eventually enriching the interstellar medium with heavy elements.Despite their astronomical importance, they are relatively difficult to observe and their formation process is consequently not completely understood.The Herschel Space Observatory launched in May 2009 observes at far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths, and has produced fantastic data of regions that include high mass star formation.Herschel observations as part of the Herschel Survey of OB Young Stellar Objects (HOBYS) Key Program are able to probe high mass star formation regions to identify and learn more about the precursors of O and B type stars.I will discuss high mass star formation as well as results from HOBYS focusing specifically on the NGC 7538 region which hosts a peculiar ring of material with unknown origin.