2012ApJ...744..126W

We report Spitzer observations of five newly identified bow shocks in the massive star-forming region RCW 38. Four are visible at Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) wavelengths, the fifth is only visible at 24 µm. Chandra X-ray emission indicates that winds from the central O5.5 binary, IRS 2, have caused an outflow to the northeast and southwest of the central subcluster. The southern lobe of hot ionized gas is detected in X-rays; shocked gas and heated dust from the shock front are detected with Spitzer at 4.5 and 24 µm. The northern outflow may have initiated the present generation of star formation, based on the filamentary distribution of the protostars in the central subcluster. Further, the bow-shock driving star, YSO 129, is photo-evaporating a pillar of gas and dust. No point sources are identified within this pillar at near- to mid-IR wavelengths. We also report on IRAC 3.6 and 5.8 µm observations of the cluster DBS2003-124, northeast of RCW 38, where 33 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) are identified. One star associated with the cluster drives a parsec-scale jet. Two Herbig-Haro objects associated with the jet are visible at IRAC and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) wavelengths. The jet extends over a distance of ∼3 pc. Assuming a velocity of 100 km/s for the jet material gives an age of 3x10⁴ yr, indicating that the star (and cluster) are likely to be very young, with a similar or possibly younger age than RCW 38, and that star formation is ongoing in the extended RCW 38 region.