The Intricate Structure of HH 508, the Brightest Microjet in the Orion Nebula

Abstract

We present Magellan adaptive optics Ha imaging of HH 508, which has the highest surface brightness among protostellar jets in the Orion Nebula. We find that HH 508 actually has a shorter component to the west, and a longer and knotty component to the east. The east component has a kink at 0.'' 3 from the jet-driving star theta(1) Ori B-2, so it may have been deflected by the wind/radiation from the nearby theta(1) Ori B1B5. The origin of both components is unclear, but if each of them is a separate jet, then theta(1) Ori B-2 may be a tight binary. Alternatively, HH 508 may be a slow-moving outflow, and each component represents an illuminated cavity wall. The ionization front surrounding theta(1) Ori B2B3 does not directly face theta(1) Ori B1B5, suggesting that the EUV radiation from theta(1) Ori C plays a dominant role in affecting the morphology of proplyds even in the vicinity of theta(1) Ori B1B5. Finally, we report an Ha blob that might be ejected by the binary proplyd LV 1.