Surrounding the unusual young star Eta Carina is a region where the perturbing effect of a spiral arm is laid out across the line of sight. The spiral density wave shock associated with the Carina arm crossing may be playing an important role in the formation and dissociation of the cloud complex, as well as in maintaining the internal energy balance of the clouds.
Massive stars form at the densest regions of the molecular cloud complex.
The winds and outflows associated with these stars have a disrupting effect on the complex and inject mechanical energy into the parent clouds, while massive young stars heat the parent clouds with UV radiation. The details of the data and the correlation among the various data sets hint at the possible role that the spiral density wave plays in feeding interstellar turbulence. This research is published by Zhang et al. 1999. Astronomical testing was made on the JCMT telescope.