A Case Study of Triggered Star Formation in Cygnus X
Abstract
Radiative feedback from massive stars can potentially trigger star formation in the surrounding molecular gas. Inspired by the case of radiatively driven implosion in M16 or Eagle Nebula, we analyze a similar case of star formation observed in the Cygnus X region. We present new JCMT observations of 13CO(3-2) and C18O(3-2) molecular lines of a cometary feature located at 50 pc north of the Cyg OB2 complex that was previously identified in 12CO(3-2) mapping. These data are combined with archival Hα, infrared, and radio continuum emission data, from which we measure the mass to be 110 M. We identify Cyg OB2 as the ionizing source. We measure the properties of two highly energetic molecular outflows and the photoionized rim. From this analysis, we argue the external gas pressure and gravitational energy dominate the internal pressure. The force balance along with previous simulation results and a close comparison with the case of Eagle Nebula favours a triggering scenario.
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