A FAMILY OF COMETARY GLOBULES AROUND AN INFRARED SOURCE NEAR THE ROSETTE NEBULA

SEEN in silhouette against the numerous ionized H II regions in the Milky Way are groups of small dark clouds of neutral gas and dust known as Bok globules. In some cases the stellar wind from a nearby star strips material from the globules, creating a tail pointing away from the source of the wind. Here I report the use of a photographic enhancement technique to reveal a family of four such 'cometary' globules in the southeast quadrant of the Rosette nebula, NGC2237 - 2246. The globules are not visible on R-glass copies of the National Geographic/Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. The tails of the globules all point away from the IRAS (Infrared Astronomy Satellite) source 06314 + 0427, the position of which coincides with the peak of CO emission1. The far-infrared luminosity of 06314 + 0427 is estimated to be a factor of at least 880 greater than the Sun's luminosity, with a total energy output enough to drive a stellar wind that could produce the observed globules. © 1990 Nature Publishing Group.