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M. L. Enoch, A. I. Sargent, S. Golwala (CalTech), J. Glenn (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder), N. J. Evans, II, K. E. Young (Univ. of Texas, Austin)
The earliest stages of low mass star formation, enshrouded in dense cores of dust and gas, are most easily studied at long wavelengths from the far-infrared to millimeter. SIRTF will provide unparalleled sensitivity in the 4-160 micron range, but coverage at longer wavelengths is necessary to developing a more complete picture of star formation in molecular clouds. As a complement to the SIRTF Legacy program "From Molecular Cores to Planet-forming Disks", we have carried out a flux-limited survey of approximately 6.5 square degrees of the Perseus molecular cloud at 1.1 mm using Bolocam, a new large format bolometer array for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). At millimeter wavelengths dust emission is generally optically thin and thus a good tracer of mass, while emission at infrared wavelengths is more strongly dependent on temperature and density.
We will present preliminary results from this survey and discuss general characteristics of the Perseus cloud, such as the spatial distribution of dust cores, and mass statistics. Results from recent CSO/SHARCII 350 micron images of a few of the newly identified pre-protostellar and protostellar candidates will also be presented.
This work is funded in part by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.