Observations of the environment of massive stars at 25 micron with Subaru COMICS

Willem-Jan de Wit

Abstract: We present high-angular resolution observations of massive stars
obtained with the COMICS instrument. COMICS in conjunction with Subaru
delivers 0.6" resolution at 25 micron, the longest mid-IR wavelength
amenable for ground-based observations. The emphasis of our
presentation regards an imaging campaign of the close circumstellar
environment of massive young stellar objects at 25 micron. The
resolved COMICS images are invaluable in order to determine the
density profile of the protostellar envelope and hence obtain insight
in its dynamical state (collapse, turbulent support, rotation).
Modelling of the spatial mid-IR profile and spectral energy
distribution show that the COMICS images probe the centrifugal radius
of the envelope, i.e. where rotation starts to dominate infall
motion. In addition to our MYSO results, we'll also briefly show the
power of the COMICS instrument in imaging the circumstellar
environment supergiant stars dominated by the mass-loss processes.