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Triggered star formation in the isolated cluster CB 34?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Dawn E. Peterson
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901, USA email: dawnp@virginia.edu, mfs4n@virginia.edu
R. A. Gutermuth
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA email: rgutermuth@cfa.harvard.edu, leallen@cfa.harvard.edu, pmyers@cfa.harvard.edu
M. F. Skrutskie
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901, USA email: dawnp@virginia.edu, mfs4n@virginia.edu
S. T. Megeath
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA email: megeath@physics.utoledo.edu
J. L. Pipher
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA email: jlpipher@astro.pas.rochester.edu
L. E. Allen
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA email: rgutermuth@cfa.harvard.edu, leallen@cfa.harvard.edu, pmyers@cfa.harvard.edu
P. C. Myers
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA email: rgutermuth@cfa.harvard.edu, leallen@cfa.harvard.edu, pmyers@cfa.harvard.edu
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Abstract

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Bok globules, optically opaque small dark clouds, are classical examples of isolated star formation. However, the collapse mechanism for these cold, dense clouds of gas and dust is not well understood. Observations of Bok globules include some which appear to be starless while others harbor single stars, binaries and even small groups of forming stars. One example of a Bok globule forming a group of stars is CB 34, observed with both the IRAC and MIPS instruments as part of the Spitzer Young Cluster Survey. Based on initial analysis of 1-8 μm photometry from IRAC and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), we identified 9 Class 0/I and 14 Class II young stellar objects within the small, 4.5′ × 4.5′ region encompassing CB 34. This unusually high number of protostars compared with Class II sources is intriguing because it implies a high rate of star formation. Therefore we have begun a larger study of this region in order to determine why and how CB 34 started forming stars at such a high rate. Is CB 34 embedded within a larger HII region which may have triggered its collapse or does it appear to have collapsed in isolation from outside influences?

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

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