Search

The Odin satellite is now into its twentieth year of operation, much surpassing its design life of two years. One of its major pursuits was the search for and study of H2O in the Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy. Herschel has observed the central region of NGC 1365 in two positions, and both its SPIRE and PACS observations are available in the Herschel Science Archive. Herschel PACS images have been produced of the 70 and 160 micron infrared emission from the whole galaxy, and also of the cold dust distribution as obtained from the ratio of the 160 to 70 micron images. The Herschel SPIRE observations have been used to produce maps of the 557 GHz o-H2O, 752 GHz p-H2O, 691 GHz CO(6-5), 1037 GHz CO(9-8), 537 GHz CH, 835 GHz CH+, and the 1461 GHz NII lines; however, these observations have no effective velocity resolution. Odin has recently observed the 557 GHz o-H2O ground state line in the central region with high (5 km/s) spectral resolution. The emission and absorption of H2O at 557 GHz, with a velocity resolution of 5 km/s, has been marginally detected in NGC 1365 with Odin. The H2O is predominantly located in a shocked 15" (1.3 kpc) region near some central compact radio sources and hot-spot HII regions, close to the northeast component of the molecular torus surrounding the nucleus. An analysis of the H2O line intensities and velocities indicates that a shock-region is located here. This is corroborated by a statistical image deconvolution of our SEST CO(3-2) observations, yielding 5" resolution, and a study of our VLA HI absorption observations. Additionally, an enticing 20" HI ridge is found to extend south-southeast from the nucleus, coinciding in position with the southern edge of an OIII outflow cone, emanating from the nucleus. The molecular chemistry of the shocked central region is analyzed with special emphasis on the CO, H2O and CH, CH+ results., Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures

An imminent problem in mapping an astronomical object is that the true image is convolved with the sensitivity pattern of the observing telescope and, in addition, degraded by noise and other various sources of error. We approach the problem of deconvolving the observed image by introducing a totally scale-free prior map of intensity distributions which, using Bayes' equation, can be combined with observed data to form the posterior map of intensity distributions. Approximate equations for solving out the mean and the dispersion of the map posterior intensities are then derived.

Context. The observed physical properties of outflows from low-mass sources put constraints on possible ejection mechanisms. Historically, these quantities have been derived from CO using ground-based observations. It is thus important to investigate whether parameters such as momentum rate (thrust) and mechanical luminosity (power) are the same when different molecular tracers are used. Aims. We aim at determining the outflow momentum, dynamical time-scale, thrust, energy and power using CO and H2O as tracers of outflow activity. Methods. Within the framework of the WISH key program, three molecular outflows from Class 0 sources have been mapped using the HIFI instrument aboard Herschel. We use these observations together with previously published H2 data to infer the physical properties of the outflows. We compare the physical properties derived here with previous estimates based on CO observations. Results. Inspection of the spatial distribution of H2O and H2 confirms that these molecules are co-spatial. The most prominent emission peaks in H2 coincide with strong H2O emission peaks and the estimated widths of the flows when using the two tracers are comparable. Conclusions. For the momentum rate and the mechanical luminosity, inferred values are independent of which tracer that is used, i.e., the values agree to within a factor of 4 and 3 respectively., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 5 pages, 2 figures

Apart from being an important coolant, H2O is known to be a tracer of high-velocity molecular gas. Recent models predict relatively high abundances behind interstellar shockwaves. The dynamical and physical conditions of the H2O emitting gas, however, are not fully understood yet. We aim to determine the abundance and distribution of H2O, its kinematics and the physical conditions of the gas responsible for the H2O emission. The observed line profile shapes help us understand the dynamics in molecular outflows. We mapped the VLA1623 outflow, in the ground-state transitions of o-H2O, with the HIFI and PACS instruments. We also present observations of higher energy transitions of o-H2O and p-H2O obtained with HIFI and PACS towards selected outflow positions. From comparison with non-LTE radiative transfer calculations, we estimate the physical parameters of the water emitting regions. The observed water emission line profiles vary over the mapped area. Spectral features and components, tracing gas in different excitation conditions, allow us to constrain the density and temperature of the gas. The H2O emission originates in a region where temperatures are comparable to that of the warm H2 gas (T\gtrsim200K). Thus, the H2O emission traces a gas component significantly warmer than the gas responsible for the low-J CO emission. The H2O column densities at the CO peak positions are low, i.e. N(H2O) \simeq (0.03-10)x10e14 cm-2. The H2O abundance with respect to H2 in the extended outflow is estimated at X(H2O), 14 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables

Our aim is to observationally investigate the cosmic Dark Ages in order to constrain star and structure formation models, as well as the chemical evolution in the early Universe. Spectral lines from atoms and molecules in primordial perturbations at high redshifts can give information about the conditions in the early universe before and during the formation of the first stars in addition to the epoch of reionisation. The lines may arise from moving primordial perturbations before the formation of the first stars (resonant scattering lines), or could be thermal absorption or emission lines at lower redshifts. The difficulties in these searches are that the source redshift and evolutionary state, as well as molecular species and transition are unknown, which implies that an observed line can fall within a wide range of frequencies. The lines are also expected to be very weak. Observations from space have the advantages of stability and the lack of atmospheric features which is important in such observations. We have therefore, as a first step in our searches, used the Odin satellite to perform two sets of spectral line surveys towards several positions. The first survey covered the band 547-578 GHz towards two positions, and the second one covered the bands 542.0-547.5 GHz and 486.5-492.0 GHz towards six positions selected to test different sizes of the primordial clouds. Two deep searches centred at 543.250 and 543.100 GHz with 1 GHz bandwidth were also performed towards one position. The two lowest rotational transitions of H2 will be redshifted to these frequencies from z~20-30, which is the predicted epoch of the first star formation. No lines are detected at an rms level of 14-90 and 5-35 mK for the two surveys, respectively, and 2-7 mK in the deep searches with a channel spacing of 1-16 MHz. The broad bandwidth covered allows a wide range of redshifts to be explored for a number of atomic and molecular species and transitions. From the theoretical side, our sensitivity analysis show that the largest possible amplitudes of the resonant lines are about 1 mK at frequencies, 15 pages, 9 figures, 3 on-line pages. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics 8 March 2010.

Molecular oxygen, O2 has been expected historically to be an abundant component of the chemical species in molecular clouds and, as such, an important coolant of the dense interstellar medium. However, a number of attempts from both ground and from space have failed to detect O2 emission. The work described here uses heterodyne spectroscopy from space to search for molecular oxygen in the interstellar medium. The Odin satellite carries a 1.1 m sub-millimeter dish and a dedicated 119 GHz receiver for the ground state line of O2. Starting in 2002, the star forming molecular cloud core rho Oph A was observed with Odin for 34 days during several observing runs. We detect a spectral line at v(LSR) = 3.5 km/s with dv(FWHM) = 1.5 km/s, parameters which are also common to other species associated with rho Ohp A. This feature is identified as the O2 (N_J = 1_1 - 1_0) transition at 118 750.343 MHz. The abundance of molecular oxygen, relative to H2,, is 5E-8 averaged over the Odin beam. This abundance is consistently lower than previously reported upper limits., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Aims. We aim at determining the spatial distribution of the gas and dust in star-forming regions and address their relative abundances in quantitative terms. We also examine the dust opacity exponent β for spatial and/or temporal variations.Methods. Using mapping observations of the very dense ρ Oph A core, we examined standard 1D and non-standard 3D methods to analyse data of far-infrared and submillimetre (submm) continuum radiation. The resulting dust surface density distribution can be compared to that of the gas. The latter was derived from the analysis of accompanying molecular line emission, observed with Herschel from space and with APEX from the ground. As a gas tracer we used N2 H+ , which is believed to be much less sensitive to freeze-out than CO and its isotopologues. Radiative transfer modelling of the N2 H+ (J = 3−2) and (J = 6−5) lines with their hyperfine structure explicitly taken into account provides solutions for the spatial distribution of the column density N (H2 ), hence the surface density distribution of the gas.Results. The gas-to-dust mass ratio is varying across the map, with very low values in the central regions around the core SM 1. The global average, = 88, is not far from the canonical value of 100, however. In ρ Oph A, the exponent β of the power-law description for the dust opacity exhibits a clear dependence on time, with high values of 2 for the envelope-dominated emission in starless Class –1 sources to low values close to 0 for the disk-dominated emission in Class III objects. β assumes intermediate values for evolutionary classes in between.Conclusions. Since β is primarily controlled by grain size, grain growth mostly occurs in circumstellar disks. The spatial segregation of gas and dust, seen in projection toward the core centre, probably implies that, like C18 O, also N2 H+ is frozen onto the grains.

International audience; Astronomy highlights, mainly from the third year of Odin observations - time shared 50/50% with aeronomy - are presented: the very low O 2 abundance limits achieved, the highly pressure broadened absorption lines of H 2O, H 218O, and CO (5 --> 4) in the atmosphere of Mars, the high precision H 2O and H 218O observations of comets, the detections of NH 3 and H 2O around the C-rich star IRC+10216 (CW Leo) and of H 2O around the O-rich star W Hya, NH 3 and H 2O observations of infall/outflow interactions, observations of H 2O, H 218O, H 217O as well as NH 3 and 15NH 3 in multiple absorptions towards Sgr B2, and in emission towards Orion KL, the H 2O detection of several new outflows in the DR21 W75S region. We also discuss the results of deconvolution of high S/ N H 2O, CO and 13CO (5 --> 4) maps of the Orion KL region to 40" resolution (the beam size of the Herschel telescope) and the first results from our ongoing "spectral scan" of Orion KL in bands around 555 and 570 GHz. Finally, a search for primordial molecules is presented.

We present the kinematics of the molecular gas in the barred spiral galaxy M83 (NGC5236). The study is based on ^{12}CO(J=1--0 and 2--1) observations with the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). Iso-velocity maps of the entire optical disk, 10'x10' or 13x13 kpc, are produced. They show the pattern of an inclined, rotating disk, but also the effects of streaming motions along the spiral arms. A dynamical mass of about 6x10^10 M_sun is estimated by fitting the rotation curve of an exponential disk model to these data. The gas constitutes about 13% of the disk mass. The pattern speed is determined from the residual velocity pattern The locations of various resonances are discussed. The molecular gas velocity dispersion is determined, and a trend of decreasing dispersion with increasing galactocentric radius is found. A total gas (H_2+HI+He) mass surface density map is presented, and compared to the critical density for star formation of an isothermal gaseous disk. The critical density is exceeded in the spiral arms, but not in the interarm regions. The locations of Giant Molecular Associations (GMAs) and HII regions are consistent with this scenario of dynamically induced star formation., 19 pages, 14 figures, A&A submitted. A higher resolution version available at http://www.astro.su.se/~andreas/publications/

We present CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) observations of the barred spiral galaxy M83 (NGC5236). The maps cover the entire optical disk. The CO emission is strongly peaked toward the nucleus, which breaks up into two separate components in the CO(2-1) data due to the higher spatial resolution. Emission from the bar is strong, in particular on the leading edges of the bar. The molecular gas arms are clearly resolved and can be traced for more than 360\degr . Emission in the inter-arm regions is detected. The average CO CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) line ratio is 0.77. The ratio is lower than this on the spiral arms and higher in the inter-arm regions. The arms show regularly spaced concentrations of molecular gas, Giant Molecular Associations (GMA's), whose masses are of the order 10^7 Msun. The total molecular gas mass is estimated to be 3.9*10^9 Msun. This mass is comparable to the total HI mass, but H_2 dominates in the optical disk. In the disk, H_2 and HI show very similar distributions, including small scale clumping. We compare the molecular gas distribution with those of other star formation tracers, such as B and H_alpha images., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, A&A accepted. A higher resolution version available at http://www.astro.su.se/~andreas/publications/

Measurements of absorption in the lines of (C-12)O, (C-13)O, HCO(+), HCN, CN, and CS toward the nuclear continuum source in Centaurus A are reported. The spectra show a number of features which can be attributed to individual molecular clouds with properties similar to dense molecular clouds in the Galaxy. The deepest absorption at the systemic velocity of Cen A originates in quiescent molecular clouds that are cold, dense, and clumped, and happen to lie along the line of sight to the central compact continuum source. A (C-12)O fractional abundance is obtained which is in excellent agreement with typical values derived for the dense ISM in the Galaxy. For the central absorption feature, the (C-12)O and (C-13)O J = 2-1 to J = 1-0 line ratio and the limit on this ratio for CN indicate that the absorption occurs in very cold and/or subthermlly excited gas. 45 refs.

Researchers present maps of the CO-12(1=0) line and the 100 micron and 50 micron far-infrared emission of Centaurus A, as well as measurements of the CO-12(2-1), CO-13(1-0), and the C-18O(1-0) lines at selected positions. The observations were taken with the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (SEST) and the CPC instrument on board the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS). The millimeter data show that the bulk molecular material is closely associated with the dust lane and contained in a disk of about 180 seconds diameter and a total molecular mass of about 2 x 10 to the 8th power solar mass. The total molecular mass of the disk and bulge is of the order of 3 x 10 to the 8th power solar mass. The molecular gas in the nucleus is warm with a kinetic temperature of the order of 15 K and a number density of 10 to the 3rd power to 3 x 10 to the 4th power cm(-3). Absorption features in the CO-12 and CO-13 lines against the nuclear continuum emission indicate that the properties of giant molecular clouds are comparable to those of the Galaxy. The far-infrared data show that to a good approximation the dust temperature is constant across the dust lane at a value of about 42 K. The ratio between the far-infrared luminosity and the total molecular mass is 18 solar luminosity/solar mass and close to the mean value obtained for isolated galaxies. A comparison of the CO-12(1-0) and the far-infrared data indicates that a considerable amount of the far-infrared emission is not intimately associated with massive star formation.

New results from water mapping observations of the Orion KL region using the submm/mm wave satellite Odin (2.1\arcmin beam size at 557 GHz), are presented. The ortho-H2O \jkktrans{1}{1}{0}{1}{0}{1} ground state transition was observed in a 7arcminx 7arcmin rectangular grid with a spacing of 1\arcmin, while the same line of H218O was measured in two positions, Orion KL itself and 2\arcmin south of Orion KL. In the main water species, the KL molecular outflow is largely resolved from the ambient cloud and it is found to have an extension of 60\arcsec-110\arcsec. The H2O outflow profile exhibits a rather striking absorption-like asymmetry at the line centre. Self-absorption in the near (or ``blue'') part of the outflow (and possibly in foreground quiescent halo gas) is tentatively suggested to play a role here. We argue that the dominant part of the KL H218O outflow emission emanates from the compact (size ~ 15\arcsec) low-velocity flow and here estimate an H2O abundance of circa 10-5 compared to all H2 in the flow - an order of magnitude below earlier estimates of the H2O abundance in the shocked gas of the high-velocity flow. The narrow ambient cloud lines show weak velocity trends, both in the N-S and E-W directions. H218O is detected for the first time in the southern position at a level of ~ 0.15 K and we here estimate an H2O abundance of (1-8) x 10-8. Odin is a Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes), and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES, France). The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) was the industrial prime contractor and is also responsible for the satellite operation.

Key Odin operational and instrumental features and highlights from our sub-millimetre and millimetre wave observations of H2O, H218O, NH3, 15NH3 and O2 are presented, with some insights into accompanying Odin Letters in this AA H2O observations of Galactic Centre sources, of shock enhanced H2O towards the SNR IC443, and of the candidate infall source IRAS 16293-2422; H218O detections in Orion KL and in comet Ikeya-Zhang; sub-mm detections of NH3 in Orion KL (outflow, ambient cloud and bar) and ρ Oph, and very recently, of 15NH3 in~Orion KL. Simultaneous sensitive searches for the 119 GHz line of O2 have resulted in very low abundance limits, which are difficult to accomodate in chemical models. We also demonstrate, by means of a quantitative comparison of Orion KL H2O results, that the Odin and SWAS observational data sets are very consistently calibrated. Odin is a Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes), and the Centre National d'etudes Spatiales (CNES, France). The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has been the prime industrial contractor, and is also responsible for the satellite operation from its Odin Mission Control Centre at SSC in Solna and its Odin Control Centre at ESRANGE near Kiruna in northern Sweden. See also the SNSB Odin web page: http://www.snsb.se/eng_odin_intro.shtml

The 1(0)-0(1) transition of SO at 30 GHz has been observed in several sources, including the first detection of sulfur monoxide in cold dark clouds without apparent internal energy sources. The SO transition appears to be an excellent tracer of structure in dark clouds, and the data support suggestions that self-absorption is important in determining emission profiles in such regions for large line-strength transitions. Column densities estimated from a comparison of the results for the two isotopic species indicate a high fractional abundance of SO in dark clouds.

Some 25 previously unreported intestellar lines have been detected in the 3--4 mm spectrum of Orion A and are attributed to methyl formate (HCOOCH/sub 3/). A rotational temperature T> or approx. =50 K and a beam-averaged column density Nroughly-equal2(10)/sup 14/ cm/sup -2/ are estimated. A new limit on the abundance of formic acid suggests that (HCOOCH/sub 3/)/(HCOOH)> or approx. =3. Methyl formate transitions at 76.702 and 76.711 GHz, at 85.927 GHz and at 86.224 GHz clearly correspond to previously reported spectral lines attributed to CH/sub 4/, NH/sub 2/D, and (CH/sub 3/)/sub 2/O, respectively. These results suggest that the detections of methane and deuterated ammonia in Orion A should be regarded as tentative only, with important implications for interstellar chemistry and deuterium abundances.

The distributions of H/sup 12/CN, H/sup 13/CN, and H/sup 12/CO/sup +/ have been mapped with 20'' spacing. HC/sup 15/N and H/sup 13/CO/sup +/ were observed toward the map center. The physical properties of the Orion A extended ridge and of the much smaller HCN plateau cloud (angular extension considerably less than that of the 43'' beam) have been estimated on the basis of Gaussian decompositions of the various spectra, combined with cloud modeling.