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A Spitzer/IRAC survey of massive star-forming regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2005

Lori E. Allen
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu
Joseph L. Hora
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu
S. Thomas Megeath
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu
Lynne K. Deutsch
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu
G. G. Fazio
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu
Luis Chavarria
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu University of Chile
Rebecca W. Dell
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 USA email: lallen@cfa.harvard.edu Harvard University
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Abstract

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We are conducting a survey of several regions of high-mass star formation to assess their content and structure. The observations include spitzer observations, ground-based optical and near-IR imaging surveys, and optical and IR spectra of objects and locations in the molecular clouds. The goal of the survey is to gain a better understanding of the processes involved in high mass star formation by determining the characteristics of the stars detected in these regions and investigating the properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) environment in which these stars form. In this contribution, we present results on the identification and spatial analysis of young stars in three clusters, W5/AFGL 4029, S255, and S235. First we show how the IRAC data are used to roughly segregate young stars according to their mid-infrared colors, into two groups corresponding the SED class I and class II young stellar objects. Then using the IRAC data in combination with 2MASS, we show how more young stars can be identified. Finally, we examine the spatial distributions of young stars in these clusters and find a range of morphologies and of peak surface densities.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
© 2005 International Astronomical Union