Wave Dynamics and Star Formation in Taurus

The mechanism underlying the formation of cores and larger scale structures in molecular clouds must play a fundamental role in the physics of star formation since young stellar objects are usually found within or very near cores (Myers et al 1987, Beichman et al 1986). The Taurus cloud is an ideal object to study in this regard because of its proximity (160 pc), and because only low mass star formation is presently occurring there. Barnard’s (1927) beautiful optical photograph of the region reveals that the obscuring gas and dust has filamentary structure that is comparable to the size of the cloud complex (several 10’s of pc). This structure is clearly seen in CO maps of the region as well (eg. Duvert et al 1986) where it is apparent that structure on much larger size scales than cores is common. In addition to the filamentary structure one also observes that there are small dark clouds present such as L1489, L1495, etc.