G133.50+9.01: A likely cloud-cloud collision complex triggering the formation of filaments, cores and a stellar cluster

TL;DR

This study provides observational evidence that a cloud-cloud collision in G133.50+9.01 has triggered the formation of filaments, dense cores, and a stellar cluster, illustrating the collision's role in star formation processes.

Contribution

It presents new observational evidence linking cloud-cloud collision signatures to filament, core, and cluster formation in G133.50+9.01.

Findings

Identification of two colliding molecular clouds with distinct velocities.

Detection of a shocked layer with arc-like morphology at the collision interface.

Presence of a stellar cluster with young stellar objects along the collision front.

Abstract

We present compelling observational evidence of G133.50+9.01 being a bona fide cloud-cloud collision candidate with signatures of induced filament, core, and cluster formation. The CO molecular line observations reveal that the G133.50+9.01 complex is made of two colliding molecular clouds with systemic velocities, -16.9 km s-1 and -14.1 km s-1. The intersection of the clouds is characterised by broad bridging features characteristic of collision. The morphology of the shocked layer at the interaction front resembles an arc like structure with enhanced excitation temperature and H2 column density. A complex network of filaments is detected in the SCUBA 850 {\mu}m image with 14 embedded dense cores, all well correlated spatially with the shocked layer. A stellar cluster revealed through an over-density of identified Class I and II young stellar objects is found located along the arc in the intersection region corroborating with a likely collision induced origin.