High spectral resolution H2 measurements of Herbig-Haro objects 38, 46/47, and 120

We report high spectral resolution (R similar or equal to 20,000) measurements of the H-2 1 - 0 S(1) line in Herbig-Haro objects 38, 46/47, and 120. The long-slit spectra reveal complex velocity structure with evidence for bow-shock structures, as well as prompt entrainment and shock heating of ambient molecular gas. Individual knots within HH 38 show distinct double-peaked velocity structure, consistent with that expected from spatially unresolved bow shocks. A portion of the HH 47A bow shock is resolved in our measurements, and the kinematics of the H-2 trace closely that found for Halpha emission. The evidence indicates that the preshock medium for HH 47A that formed in the wake of a previous ejection contains molecular clumps. The HH 46C jet A feature in the HH 46/47 counterflow is suggestive of a bow shock emerging from near the base of the flow, with H-2 emission arising from ambient cloud material excited in the oblique flanks of the bow shock. HH 46F is situated downstream at the boundary between the ovoid cavity and the ambient cloud material, and represents either entrainment by a stellar wind that fills the cavity or entrainment in the far wing of a giant bow shock. For HH 120, the H-2 velocity results also corroborate those found from atomic emission, and there is substantial evidence that the preshock medium is inhomogeneous, producing clumps of H-2 emission on the wings of a bow shock that has an apex at HH 120A.