Proper motions of the outer knots of the HH 80/81/80N radio-jet

The radio-knots of the Herbig-Haro (HH) 80/81/80N jet extend from the HH 80 object to the recently discovered Source 34 and has a total projected jet size of 10.3 pc, constituting the largest collimated radio-jet system known so far. It is powered by the bright infrared source IRAS 18162-2048 associated with a massive young stellar object. We report 6 cm JVLA observations that, compared with previous 6 cm VLA observations carried out in 1989, allow us to derive proper motions of the HH 80, HH 81, and HH 80N radio knots located about 2.5 pc away in projection from the powering source. For the first time, we measure proper motions of the optically obscured HH 80N object providing evidence that this knot, along with HH 81 and HH 80 are associated with the same radio-jet. We also confirm the presence of Source 34, located further north of HH 80N, previously proposed to belong to the jet.We derived that the tangential velocity of HH 80N is 260 km s-1 and has a direction in agreement with the expected direction of a ballistic precessing jet. The HH 80 and HH 81 objects have tangential velocities of 350 and 220 km s-1, respectively, but their directions are somewhat deviated from the expected jet path. The velocities of the HH objects studied in this work are significantly lower than those derived for the radio knots of the jet close to the powering source (600-1400 km s-1) suggesting that the jet is slowing down due to a strong interaction with the ambient medium. As a result, since HH 80 and HH 81 are located near the edge of the cloud, the inhomogeneous and low density medium may contribute to skew the direction of their determined proper motions. The HH 80 and HH 80N emission at 6 cm is, at least in part, probably synchrotron radiation produced by relativistic electrons in a magnetic field of 1 mG. If these electrons are accelerated in a reverse adiabatic shock, we estimate a jet total density of ≲1000 cm-3. All of these features are consistent with a jet emanating from a high-mass protostar and make evident its capability of accelerating particles up to relativistic velocities. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..