A ROSAT Survey of the T Tauri Star Population in the Vicinity of the R CrA T Association
Abstract
As a part of assessing the membership and spatial extant of the R CrA T association, we have used archival ROSAT data to search for low mass pre-main sequence stars in the foreground of the CrA molecular cloud by their X-ray emission. The catalog of deep ROSAT imagery in the direction of the CrA molecular cloud consists of some 9 PSPC and 14 HRI pointed observations. While most of these images are targeted towards the most active region of star formation in the cloud, Rossano Cloud A, which includes the R CrA T association, several HRI fields are also centered on Rossano Clouds B, C, D, and E. We have identified 72 X-ray sources in these images. Supporting optical and near-IR photometry as well as optical spectroscopy of the optical counterparts to the X-ray sources suggest that ∼50% of the sources seen by ROSAT are associated with pre-main sequence stars. We present optical and IR color-color and color-magnitude diagrams for the counterparts to the X-ray sources and a map of the distribution of pre-main sequence stars with respect to the CrA molecular cloud and the R CrA T association. This research has been supported in part by NASA grant NAG5-11321 and by the Schultz Foundation Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005AAS...207.7118B