Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell: new insights from 3D dust mapping

Bore Annie Gao; Catherine Zucker; Tirupati Kumara Sridharan; Cameren Swiggum; Shmuel Bialy; Theo J. O'Neill; J. E. G. Peek; Luciana Bianchi; Robert Benjamin; Lewis McCallum; Alyssa Goodman; João Alves; Charles Lada; Gordian Edenhofer; Rowan Smith; Elizabeth Watkins; Kenneth Wood; Doni Anderson

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8

Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell: new insights from 3D dust mapping

Bore Annie Gao^*
, Catherine Zucker
, Tirupati Kumara Sridharan
, Cameren Swiggum
, Shmuel Bialy
, Theo J. O'Neill
, J. E. G. Peek
, Luciana Bianchi
, Robert Benjamin
, Lewis McCallum
, Alyssa Goodman
, João Alves
, Charles Lada
, Gordian Edenhofer
, Rowan Smith
, Elizabeth Watkins
, Kenneth Wood
, Doni Anderson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The IRAS Vela Shell (IVS) is a structure of enhanced far-IR (FIR) emission located toward the Gum Nebula, a prominent region of Hα emission in the local Milky Way shaped by various galactic stellar feedback over the past several million years. We constrain the 3D spatial geometry of the IVS using a parsec-resolution 3D dust map and contextualize it within the broader Gum Nebula. Our analysis reveals a dense, bowl-like IVS structure below the Galactic plane, with a more diffuse component above. We obtain a total shell mass of 5.1^+0.24_-0.24 × 10⁴ M_☉ and, incorporating previous studies on shell expansion, a momentum of 6.0^+4.7_-3.4 × 10⁵ M_☉km s^-1. We find a spatial correlation between the morphology of the dust-traced IVS and the Gum Nebula’s Hα emission when projected onto the sky. We quantify contributions of feedback from stellar winds, an expanding H ɪɪ region, and supernovae to the IVS formation, finding that stellar winds are subdominant. Our momentum analysis shows that both an H ɪɪ region and supernova feedback could drive the shell’s expansion. Using astrometric constraints from Gaia and Hipparcos, we trace back nearby feedback sources and find that the massive stars γ2 Velorum and ζ Puppis are currently within the IVS, producing enough ionizing luminosity to form an H ɪɪ region of comparable size. Alternatively, if the IVS’ momentum is primarily driven by supernovae, one to two events would be required. We also identify several young massive clusters that could have hosted supernovae within the past 3 Myr.

Original language	English
Article number	73
Number of pages	19
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	987
Issue number	1
Early online date	30 Jun 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2025

Keywords

Stellar feedback
Interstellar medium
Young star clusters
Superbubbles
Young stellar objects
H II regions

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© 2025 The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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Table 4 (Astrometric Data for Each Object Applied in the Traceback Analysis) and Table 5 (Selected Star Clusters that Could Contribute to the IVS Expansion in the Past 3 Myr)
Gao, B. (Creator), Harvard Dataverse, 20 Nov 2024
DOI: 10.7910/dvn/qf2vgg
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Gao, B. A., Zucker, C., Sridharan, T. K., Swiggum, C., Bialy, S., O'Neill, T. J., Peek, J. E. G., Bianchi, L., Benjamin, R., McCallum, L., Goodman, A., Alves, J., Lada, C., Edenhofer, G., Smith, R., Watkins, E., Wood, K., & Anderson, D. (2025). Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell: new insights from 3D dust mapping. Astrophysical Journal, 987(1), Article 73. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8

@article{69aa0eee3c6b4ece971d2b7d8a842673,

title = "Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell: new insights from 3D dust mapping",

abstract = "The IRAS Vela Shell (IVS) is a structure of enhanced far-IR (FIR) emission located toward the Gum Nebula, a prominent region of Hα emission in the local Milky Way shaped by various galactic stellar feedback over the past several million years. We constrain the 3D spatial geometry of the IVS using a parsec-resolution 3D dust map and contextualize it within the broader Gum Nebula. Our analysis reveals a dense, bowl-like IVS structure below the Galactic plane, with a more diffuse component above. We obtain a total shell mass of 5.1+0.24-0.24 × 104 M☉ and, incorporating previous studies on shell expansion, a momentum of 6.0+4.7-3.4 × 105 M☉ km s-1. We find a spatial correlation between the morphology of the dust-traced IVS and the Gum Nebula{\textquoteright}s Hα emission when projected onto the sky. We quantify contributions of feedback from stellar winds, an expanding H ɪɪ region, and supernovae to the IVS formation, finding that stellar winds are subdominant. Our momentum analysis shows that both an H ɪɪ region and supernova feedback could drive the shell{\textquoteright}s expansion. Using astrometric constraints from Gaia and Hipparcos, we trace back nearby feedback sources and find that the massive stars γ2 Velorum and ζ Puppis are currently within the IVS, producing enough ionizing luminosity to form an H ɪɪ region of comparable size. Alternatively, if the IVS{\textquoteright} momentum is primarily driven by supernovae, one to two events would be required. We also identify several young massive clusters that could have hosted supernovae within the past 3 Myr.",

keywords = "Stellar feedback, Interstellar medium, Young star clusters, Superbubbles, Young stellar objects, H II regions",

author = "Gao, \{Bore Annie\} and Catherine Zucker and Sridharan, \{Tirupati Kumara\} and Cameren Swiggum and Shmuel Bialy and O'Neill, \{Theo J.\} and Peek, \{J. E. G.\} and Luciana Bianchi and Robert Benjamin and Lewis McCallum and Alyssa Goodman and Jo{\~a}o Alves and Charles Lada and Gordian Edenhofer and Rowan Smith and Elizabeth Watkins and Kenneth Wood and Doni Anderson",

note = "Funding: A.G. and T.K.S. acknowledge support from the NASA ADAP grant 80NSSC23K0779 titled “The Galactic Life Cycle: Gum Nebula Cometary Globules and Molecular Clouds.”",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

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doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8",

language = "English",

volume = "987",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "1",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell

T2 - new insights from 3D dust mapping

AU - Gao, Bore Annie

AU - Zucker, Catherine

AU - Sridharan, Tirupati Kumara

AU - Swiggum, Cameren

AU - Bialy, Shmuel

AU - O'Neill, Theo J.

AU - Peek, J. E. G.

AU - Bianchi, Luciana

AU - Benjamin, Robert

AU - McCallum, Lewis

AU - Goodman, Alyssa

AU - Alves, João

AU - Lada, Charles

AU - Edenhofer, Gordian

AU - Smith, Rowan

AU - Watkins, Elizabeth

AU - Wood, Kenneth

AU - Anderson, Doni

N1 - Funding: A.G. and T.K.S. acknowledge support from the NASA ADAP grant 80NSSC23K0779 titled “The Galactic Life Cycle: Gum Nebula Cometary Globules and Molecular Clouds.”

PY - 2025/7/1

Y1 - 2025/7/1

N2 - The IRAS Vela Shell (IVS) is a structure of enhanced far-IR (FIR) emission located toward the Gum Nebula, a prominent region of Hα emission in the local Milky Way shaped by various galactic stellar feedback over the past several million years. We constrain the 3D spatial geometry of the IVS using a parsec-resolution 3D dust map and contextualize it within the broader Gum Nebula. Our analysis reveals a dense, bowl-like IVS structure below the Galactic plane, with a more diffuse component above. We obtain a total shell mass of 5.1+0.24-0.24 × 104 M☉ and, incorporating previous studies on shell expansion, a momentum of 6.0+4.7-3.4 × 105 M☉ km s-1. We find a spatial correlation between the morphology of the dust-traced IVS and the Gum Nebula’s Hα emission when projected onto the sky. We quantify contributions of feedback from stellar winds, an expanding H ɪɪ region, and supernovae to the IVS formation, finding that stellar winds are subdominant. Our momentum analysis shows that both an H ɪɪ region and supernova feedback could drive the shell’s expansion. Using astrometric constraints from Gaia and Hipparcos, we trace back nearby feedback sources and find that the massive stars γ2 Velorum and ζ Puppis are currently within the IVS, producing enough ionizing luminosity to form an H ɪɪ region of comparable size. Alternatively, if the IVS’ momentum is primarily driven by supernovae, one to two events would be required. We also identify several young massive clusters that could have hosted supernovae within the past 3 Myr.

AB - The IRAS Vela Shell (IVS) is a structure of enhanced far-IR (FIR) emission located toward the Gum Nebula, a prominent region of Hα emission in the local Milky Way shaped by various galactic stellar feedback over the past several million years. We constrain the 3D spatial geometry of the IVS using a parsec-resolution 3D dust map and contextualize it within the broader Gum Nebula. Our analysis reveals a dense, bowl-like IVS structure below the Galactic plane, with a more diffuse component above. We obtain a total shell mass of 5.1+0.24-0.24 × 104 M☉ and, incorporating previous studies on shell expansion, a momentum of 6.0+4.7-3.4 × 105 M☉ km s-1. We find a spatial correlation between the morphology of the dust-traced IVS and the Gum Nebula’s Hα emission when projected onto the sky. We quantify contributions of feedback from stellar winds, an expanding H ɪɪ region, and supernovae to the IVS formation, finding that stellar winds are subdominant. Our momentum analysis shows that both an H ɪɪ region and supernova feedback could drive the shell’s expansion. Using astrometric constraints from Gaia and Hipparcos, we trace back nearby feedback sources and find that the massive stars γ2 Velorum and ζ Puppis are currently within the IVS, producing enough ionizing luminosity to form an H ɪɪ region of comparable size. Alternatively, if the IVS’ momentum is primarily driven by supernovae, one to two events would be required. We also identify several young massive clusters that could have hosted supernovae within the past 3 Myr.

KW - Stellar feedback

KW - Interstellar medium

KW - Young star clusters

KW - Superbubbles

KW - Young stellar objects

KW - H II regions

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/add7d8

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 987

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1

M1 - 73

ER -

Origin of the IRAS Vela Shell: new insights from 3D dust mapping

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Keywords

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Datasets

Table 4 (Astrometric Data for Each Object Applied in the Traceback Analysis) and Table 5 (Selected Star Clusters that Could Contribute to the IVS Expansion in the Past 3 Myr)

Cite this