Hierarchical Structure in Nearby Star-Forming Clouds
First Author:
Robert Gutermuth
Email: rgutermu AT smith.edu
FCAD / Smith College
Clark Science Center, Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063 USA
Coauthors:
Pipher, Judy, University of Rochester
Megeath, Tom, University of Toledo
Myers, Phil, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Allen, Tom, University of Toledo
Allgaier, Erin, University of Toledo
Muzerolle, James, University of Arizona, Steward Observatory
Allen, Lori, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Abstract
I will present new results from a Spitzer survey of the active star-forming molecular clouds, Cepheus OB3 and Monoceros R2. These clouds are relatively nearby (730-830 pc), yet are forming intermediate and high mass stars in addition to many hundreds of low mass stars. As such, these clouds represent a complementary star-forming environment to the nearby (<400pc) clouds surveyed as part of the c2d, Gould Belt, and Taurus Legacy surveys, where only low mass star formation can be found. The CepOB3 and MonR2 clouds both have several clusters of forming young stellar objects, but the extent of lower number density star formation in these clouds has been largely uncharacterized. I will show a new hierarchical characterization of the spatial distribution of all Spitzer-identified YSOs in these clouds. With such a treatment, we can examine in detail distributed star formation within these clouds and compare it to the high density environments of their embedded clusters.
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