Pillars, PDRs and Triggered Star Formation: New Insights from the [CII] 158 micron line with SOFIA GREAT

Massive star forming regions shape and modify their surrounding birth environments, producing stunning Pillars and Globules at the edges of HII regions. While these structures have been known to be sites of star formation since Reipurth (1983), their true dynamics and evolution have remained uncertain. The introduction of high resolution, spatially resolved observations of the [CII] 158micron line with SOFIA GREAT, tracing the cloud outer layers, promises to deliver unprecedented ability to constrain and shape our theoretical understanding of these objects. We obtained SOFIA GREAT [CII] line maps of pillars in the W5 and Carina massive star forming regions and present our preliminary analysis of the data. With these new advances we will better understand the progression of star formation through giant molecular clouds.