2007ApJ...656..242M

In Spitzer/IRAC images obtained under the GLIMPSE Legacy Survey, we have identified a unique and provocative nebular object we call the ``Southern Jellyfish Nebula.'' The Southern Jellyfish Nebula is characterized by a fan of narrow tendrils with extreme length-to-width ratios that emanate from the vicinity of a bright infrared point source embedded in a smaller resolved nebula. From CO observations of the Nebula's morphologically associated molecular cloud, we have derived a kinematic distance of 5.7±0.8 kpc and a cloud mass of 3.2±0.9x10³ M_☉. The tendril-like ropes of the Nebula have widths of ∼0.1 pc and lengths of up to ∼2 pc. We have integrated the infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) of the point source to establish it as a massive young stellar object (MYSO), most likely forming alone, but possibly masking fainter cluster members. The shape of the SED is consistent with the shape of a late Class 0 SED model. Based on its far-IR luminosity of 3.3±0.9x10⁴ L_☉, the Southern Jellyfish's MYSO has a zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) spectral type of B0. Given the curious nature of this nebula, we suspect its peculiar IR-bright structure is directly related to its current state of star formation.