Dust Filaments and Star Formation in OMC-2 and OMC-3

Abstract

We have mapped the 1300 μm dust emission of a 6' × 16' field in the OMC-2 and -3 region and detected an extended filamentary structure with at least 11 embedded condensations in OMC-2 and 10 in OMC-3. Six have been observed previously at 1300 μm, and two were also detected by IRAS. We observed eight of the new sources at six wave bands from 350 to 2000 μm and derived upper limits for their far-infrared (FIR) emission from the IRAS raw data. The millimeter/submillimeter emission originates from cold dust (Td ~ 20 K), and the individual components have gas masses of 5 M☉ < Mgas < 36 M☉. The ratio Lbol/Lsmm is below 70 for six sources associated with OMC-3, indicating that they are class 0-type objects. Condensations in the OMC-2 region have Lbol/Lsmm ≤ 360, suggesting an evolutionary effect from north to south. We report the discovery of a highly collimated bipolar CO outflow, most likely driven by the source OMC-3 MMS 8. The flow is over 5' (0.7 pc) long and less than 1' (0.15 pc) wide and is oriented nearly east-west. Less prominent outflows are associated with OMC-2 FIR 2/3 and OMC-3 MMS 6.