A Massive Molecular Outflow in the Dense Dust Core AGAL G337.916-00.477

Abstract

Abstract Massive molecular outflows erupting from high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) provide important clues to understanding the mechanism of high-mass star formation. Based on new CO J = 3–2 and J = 1–0 observations using the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) and Mopra telescope facilities, we discovered a massive bipolar outflow associated with the dense dust core AGAL G337.916-00.477 (AGAL337.9-S), located 3.48 kpc from the Sun. The outflow lobes have extensions of less than 1 pc—and thus were not fully resolved in the angular resolutions of ASTE and Mopra—and masses of ∼50 M ⊙. The maximum velocities of the outflow lobes are as high as 36–40 . Our analysis of the infrared and submillimeter data indicates that AGAL337.9-S is in an early evolutionary stage of high-mass star formation, having the total far-infrared luminosity of . We also found that another dust core, AGAL G337.922-00.456 (AGAL337.9-N), located 2′ north of AGAL337.9-S, is a high-mass YSO in an earlier evolutionary stage than AGAL337.9-S, as it is less bright in the mid-infrared than AGAL337.9-S.