Circumstellar disks in Trapezium cluster

Direct diameter measurements of a sample of 135 bright proplyds and 14 silhouettes disks suggest that there is a single population of disks well characterized by a power-law distribution with an exponent of -1.9+/-0.3 between disk diameters 100-400AU. For the stellar mass sampled (from late G to late M stars) we find no obvious correlation between disk diameter and stellar mass.

We also find that there is no obvious correlation between disk diameter and the projected distance to the ionizing Trapezium OB stars. We estimate that about 40% of the disks in the Trapezium have radius larger than 50AU. We suggest that the origin of the Solar system's (Kuiper belt) outer edge is likely to be due to the star formation environment and disk destruction processes (photo-evaporation, collisions) present in the stellar cluster on which the Sun was probably formed.