WISE Photometry of Young Stellar Object Candidates in the Canis Major Star-Forming Region
Abstract
We present WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) photometry of young stellar object candidates in the Canis Major clouds at a distance of 1 kpc. WISE has identified 682 objects with apparent 12 and 22 micron excess emission in a 7 deg x 10 deg field around the the CMa R1 cloud. While a substantial fraction of these candidates are likely galaxies, AGB stars, and artifacts from confusion along the galactic plane, others are part of a spectacular cluster of YSOs imaged by WISE along a dark filament in the R1 cloud. Palomar Double Spectrograph observations of several sources in this cluster confirm their identity as young A and B stars with strong emission lines. In this contribution,we plot the optical - mid-infrared spectral energy distribution for the WISE YSO candidates and discuss potential contaminants to the sample. The data demonstrate the utility of WISE in performing wide-area surveys for young stellar objects.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #220
- Pub Date:
- May 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AAS...22033403P