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

Abstract

We have mapped the 1300 mu m dust emission of a 6' x 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 mu m, and two were also detected by IRAS. We observed eight of the new sources at six wave bands from 350 to 2000 mu m 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 Msolar < Mgas < 36 Msolar. 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