AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 20. Star Formation I
Poster, Monday, January 6, 2003, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall AB

[Previous] | [Session 20] | [Next]


[20.02] Deep Near Infrared Imaging of the NGC 7129 Region: Investigating Low Mass Star Formation in a Young Stellar Cluster

R. A. Gutermuth (Univ. of Rochester), S. T. Megeath (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), J. L. Pipher (Univ. of Rochester), L. E. Allen, P. C. Myers (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)

The NGC 7129 region is an active site of star formation, as shown by Herbig-Haro objects, outflows, dense molecular gas, and several young stars surrounded by bright reflection nebulosity. While published submillimeter and far infrared observations of NGC 7129 characterize the effects of associated massive young stars in this region on the surrounding medium, there has been little examination of the cluster of low mass stars known to exist in the region. We have obtained wide-field (11' x 11') J, H, and Ks band images of NGC 7129 using the FLAMINGOS instrument on the 6.5 meter MMT telescope. We used standard aperture photometry methods to measure the flux of all detected point sources down to 10 sigma detection limits of J = 18.6, H = 18.1, and Ks = 17.3. At a cluster distance of 1 kpc (Racine, 1968) we can detect 1 Myr old, unattenuated 25 Mjup objects. From these data we can establish the mass distribution in this region, allowing us to determine the initial mass function and initial spatial configuration of both stellar and sub-stellar objects. As part of a SIRTF Guaranteed Time Observation program, these data will be combined with SIRTF images of the region to determine the complete 1-24 micron SEDs for each star in the region. The combined ground-based/SIRTF observations will provide unparalleled data on the incidence and properties of protostellar envelopes and protoplanetary disks in young clusters.


If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://astro.pas.rochester.edu/clusters.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: rguter@astro.pas.rochester.edu

[Previous] | [Session 20] | [Next]

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.