A study of molecular gas associated with the HH24 optical jets

Abstract

The HH24 complex have been mapped in ¹²CO J=3-2 emission at 14" resolution, using the 15m James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) on Manna Kea, Hawaii. The map in ¹²CO J=3-2 shows complicated morphology with at least two outflows emanating from the map center. A blueshifted molecular lobe found in the northeastern part of the map aligns well with the optically detected flow HH24G, while near the map center the ¹²CO redshifted flow is coincident with the shocked H2 region and the optically detected moving gas HH24A. The spatial coincidences of molecular outflows and optical outflows suggest that the two phenomena may be physically associated. Analysis of the data shows that the molecular outflow is asymmetric, with the blueshifted flow having 5 times more mass and momentum than the redshifted flow. The momentum flux of the blueshifted outflow which coincides with HH24G is found to be one order of magnitude larger than the momentum of the optical jet. The result implies that the optical jet might be incapable of driving the molecular outflow. However, there are large uncertainties in estimates of momentum flux for both optical jet and molecular outflow.