A New Star-forming Core in the Norma Filamentary Dark Cloud

Abstract

We report observations at millimeter and near-infrared wavelengths of the region near IRAS 16295-4452 seen toward the Sa 187 filamentary dark cloud in the southern constellation Norma. Observations in the main rotational transitions of CO, 13CO, CS, and HCN reveal a new dense cloud core associated with IRAS 16295-4452. The core has diameter ~0.3 pc and total mass ~35 M⊙. Near-infrared imaging of the same region shows that the reddest (H-K = 2.9) source seen in our images, which is undetected in the J image, is located about 11'' from IRAS 16295-4452 and is likely to be the near-infrared counterpart of the IRAS source. The millimeter observations reveal the presence of a molecular outflow with lobes extending in opposite directions from IRAS 16295-4452. The shape of the spectral energy distribution between 1.25 and 100 μm suggests that IRAS 16295-4452 is a Class I protostar with total luminosity about 35 L⊙.