HiRes DECONVOLVEDSPITZERIMAGES OF 89 PROTOSTELLAR JETS AND OUTFLOWS: NEW DATA ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE OUTFLOW MORPHOLOGY

Abstract

To study the role of protosellar jets and outflows in the time evolution of the parent cores and the protostars, the astronomical community needs a large enough database of infrared images of protostars at the highest spatial resolution possible to reveal the details of their morphology. Spitzer provides unprecedented sensitivity in the infrared to study both the jet and outflow features, however, its spatial resolution is limited by its 0.85 m mirror. Here, we use a high-resolution deconvolution algorithm, "HiRes," to improve the visualization of spatial morphology by enhancing resolution (to subarcsecond levels in the IRAC bands) and removing the contaminating side lobes from bright sources in a sample of 89 protostellar objects. These reprocessed images are useful for detecting (1) wide-angle outflows seen in scattered light, (2) morphological details of H2 emission in jets and bow shocks, and (3) compact features in MIPS 24 μm images as protostar/disk and atomic/ionic line emission associated with the jets. The HiRes FITS image data of such a large homogeneous sample presented here will be useful to the community in studying these protostellar objects. To illustrate the utility of this HiRes sample, we show how the opening angle of the wide-angle outflows in 31 sources, all observed in the HiRes-processed Spitzer images, correlates with age. Our data suggest a power-law fit to opening angle versus age with an exponent of ∼0.32 and 0.02, respectively, for ages ⩽8000 yr and ⩾8000 yr.