Sharpless 170 and the surrounding interstellar medium

Abstract

Sharpless 170 is a diffuse H region ionized by a single main sequence O-star located near the periphery of a small dense molecular cloud at a distance of ∼2 kpc. We describe wide-field observations of the region in the radio continuum, in H and CO-lines, and in the far-infrared which delineate the major ionized, atomic, molecular and dust components of the gas affected by the exciting star. From the thermal continuum emission we estimate the mass of ionized gas at ∼350 Mwithin a radius of ∼ 7p c. The H (λ21 cm) and far-infrared observations show an extended low-density atomic component, of ∼1000 M� , within an irregular boundary surrounding the ionized gas of mean radius ∼10 pc. Mean densities in the H and H are similar, in the range 9-16 nucleons cm −3 . CO emission shows a molecular cloud of ∼1150 Mwithin an area 6 pc × 4 pc with densities ∼2000 nucleons cm −3 . A compact infrared component coincides with the cloud. The exciting star is located on the near side of the cloud, just inside the southern periphery. Sh170 is an example of a young H region with the ionized gas, seen in Hα emission, streaming outward in the manner of a champagne flow. Although the observed velocities of the H are close to the mean velocity of the CO cloud, the morphology of the associated atomic hydrogen closely resembles that seen in the surrounds of other young H regions which show clear evidence of expansion of their H. We propose that much of the H is a diffuse dissociation zone beyond the ionization front, in directions from the star within a wide annulus, approximately transverse to the line-of-sight, between the dense photon- bounded region on the far side of the star and the density-bounded ionized flow region on the near side. In this view, much of the associated atomic gas, like the ionized gas, has been eroded from the molecular cloud in a small fraction (≤10%) of the star's main sequence lifetime.