An Infrared Survey for Embedded Young Stars in the Perseus Molecular Cloud Complex

We searched the Perseus molecular cloud complex for isolated, embedded, and presumably young stars using the survey data collected with the IRAS and previously published visual extinction data. Of the 23 source positions which satisfied both our IRAS color and visual extinction tests, we imaged 18 and identified the 2 micron counterparts of 11 IRAS sources. We have estimated the luminosities and mean frequencies of these sources and compare these properties with a similarly selected group of sources from the Taurus-Auriga cloud. We find that the isolated sources in Perseus cloud have a slightly higher average luminosity and a distinctly lower average mean frequency than the sources in our Taurus sample. These results suggest that the Perseus cloud is intermediate in its star-forming character between the predominantly low-mass star-forming regions like Taurus and those which are capable of producing very high mass stars, like the clouds in Orion.