Changing environments of pre-main-sequence stars and their effect on the 3 microns ice feature

Abstract

Three micron spectra of three premain-sequence stellar objects are presented. The heavily embedded infrared source HH100-IR, and two optically visible stars that apparently power the Herbig-Haro objects HH52, 53, 54, and HH57, are likely to represent different stages during early stellar evolution. The medium-resolution spectra of HH100-IR confirm the existence of a very strong ice band absorption (optical depth 0.8-1.2 at 3.07 microns) discovered by Whittet & Blades MNRAS, 191, 309 (1980) with lower resolution. Each of the visible stars shows a weaker (optical depth 0.2-0.4) water-ice feature but with a relatively prominent absorption dip at 2.97 microns which it is believed is due to ammonia ice. A detailed inspection of the line profiles suggests that the environment around the optically visible stars is significantly warmer (about 100 K) than that around HH100-IR (about 10-20 K) and that processing of remnant circumstellar dust is already underway.