The Protostellar Origin of a CS Outflow in S68N

Abstract

We have discovered a compact outflow of ≈ 80'' (0.12 pc) total extent toward S68N in the Serpens molecular cloud, which we have imaged in CS. We present outflow images acquired with the Haystack 37 m antenna and from combined Haystack and interferometric data, the latter at 12''×6'' angular resolution. The large derived outflow momentum flux (~2×10 -->−4 M☉ km s-1 yr-1) is consistent with the high values found in the earliest protostellar stage (Bontemps et al.). We also present a new 450 μm continuum image of the S68N region at 7'' resolution obtained with the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We identify the source responsible for this outflow for the first time from the SCUBA image and report a new, more accurate position for S68N than has been used in previous investigations. We demonstrate spatial variability in the self-absorbed CS J=2→1 line profile shapes at 0.03 pc (18'') scales, emphasizing the need for detailed radiative transfer modeling for disentangling the complicated source kinematics.