DISTRIBUTIONS OF DENSITY, TEMPERATURE AND ABUNDANCES IN THE ORION NEBULA

To derive the distributions of electron density, temperature and gas-phase metal abundances within the Orion Nebula, we have performed a non-LTE analysis to the radio observations of hydrogen recombination lines and continuum flux over the frequency range from 0.1GHz to 100GHz. We have explicitly included the thermal balance condition in our analysis, hence our derived distributions have their internal consistencies. This enables us to derive the radial distribution of Oxygen and Nitrogen. The gas-phase concentrations of these cooling agents show about the solar values at the very central part of the nebula, then, decrease slowly outward, and finally become about one quarter of the solar values in the outer extended envelope. Such an outward decrease is interpreted as an outward increase of dust concentrations in the Orion.