The Spitzer survey of interstellar clouds in the gould belt. VI. The Auriga-California molecular cloud observed with IRAC and MIPS
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6 (Canada)
- Astronomy Department, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1400, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
- School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751 (Australia)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queen's Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
- National Research Council Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, Victoria, BC, V9E 2E7 (Canada)
- Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø. (Denmark)
- National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ (United States)
- Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, P.O. Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)
- Herschel Science Centre, ESAC-ESA, P.O. Box 78, E-28691 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid (Spain)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy PS315, 5151 State University Drive, California State University at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032 (United States)
- Space Science Institute, 4750 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Boulder, CO 80301 (United States)
We present observations of the Auriga-California Molecular Cloud (AMC) at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, 24, 70, and 160 μm observed with the IRAC and MIPS detectors as part of the Spitzer Gould Belt Legacy Survey. The total mapped areas are 2.5 deg{sup 2} with IRAC and 10.47 deg{sup 2} with MIPS. This giant molecular cloud is one of two in the nearby Gould Belt of star-forming regions, the other being the Orion A Molecular Cloud (OMC). We compare source counts, colors, and magnitudes in our observed region to a subset of the SWIRE data that was processed through our pipeline. Using color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, we find evidence for a substantial population of 166 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the cloud, many of which were previously unknown. Most of this population is concentrated around the LkHα 101 cluster and the filament extending from it. We present a quantitative description of the degree of clustering and discuss the relative fraction of YSOs in earlier (Class I and F) and later (Class II) classes compared to other clouds. We perform simple SED modeling of the YSOs with disks to compare the mid-IR properties to disks in other clouds and identify 14 classical transition disk candidates. Although the AMC is similar in mass, size, and distance to the OMC, it is forming about 15-20 times fewer stars.
- OSTI ID:
- 22357008
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 786, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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