An all-sky sample of intermediate-mass star-forming regions

Journal Article · Tue Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/784/2/111· OSTI ID:22357267

Lundquist, Michael J.; Kobulnicky, Henry A.; Alexander, Michael J. ^[1]; Kerton, Charles R. ^[2]; Arvidsson, Kim ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 (United States)
3. Trull School of Sciences and Mathematics, Schreiner University, 2100 Memorial Boulevard, Kerrville, TX 78028 (United States)

We present an all-sky sample of 984 candidate intermediate-mass Galactic star-forming regions that are color selected from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) Point Source Catalog and morphologically classify each object using mid-infrared Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) images. Of the 984 candidates, 616 are probable star-forming regions (62.6%), 128 are filamentary structures (13.0%), 39 are point-like objects of unknown nature (4.0%), and 201 are galaxies (20.4%). We conduct a study of four of these regions, IRAS 00259+5625, IRAS 00420+5530, IRAS 01080+5717, and IRAS 05380+2020, at Galactic latitudes |b| > 5° using optical spectroscopy from the Wyoming Infrared Observatory, along with near-infrared photometry from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey, to investigate their stellar content. New optical spectra, color-magnitude diagrams, and color-color diagrams reveal their extinctions, spectrophotometric distances, and the presence of small stellar clusters containing 20-78 M {sub ☉} of stars. These low-mass diffuse star clusters contain ∼65-250 stars for a typical initial mass function, including one or more mid-B stars as their most massive constituents. Using infrared spectral energy distributions we identify young stellar objects near each region and assign probable masses and evolutionary stages to the protostars. The total infrared luminosity lies in the range 190-960 L {sub ☉}, consistent with the sum of the luminosities of the individually identified young stellar objects.

• OSTI ID: 22357267
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 784; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CATALOGS
COLOR
DISTANCE
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
INFRARED SURVEYS
LUMINOSITY
MASS
PHOTOMETRY
POINT SOURCES
PROTOSTARS
SATELLITES
SPECTROPHOTOMETRY
SPECTROSCOPY
STAR CLUSTERS
STARS