15min:

KEE-TAE KIM, Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois, 1002 W. Grenn St., Urb ana, IL 61801; E. CHURCHWELL, Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 475 North Charter St., Madison, WI 53705.

There are two major competing models for massive star formation: accretion via disks and coalescence of low-mass (proto)stars. The presence of well-defined disks around massive protostars may be the most convincing observational evidence to support the accretion model. We observed a massive protostar in the H¹³CO⁺ and H¹³CN~(1-0) lines and 3-mm continuum at 4'' resolution using the BIMA array, and detected a well-elongated dense condensation in the NE-SW direction. Dust continuum emission peaks around its center where a bright ( 4×10⁴~L_ødot) IRAS point source is located. The condensation crosses the associated outflow axis at about 50^o. A large ( 15~km~s^-1~pc^-1) velocity gradient exists along the major axis, suggesting rotation. The condensation has a size of 50000~AU and a mass of 400~M_ødot, which are very similar to those of the circumstellar disk recently detected around NGC~7538S. Therefore, this structure seems to be a circumstellar disk around a massive protostar, although further studies are required to confirm this.