NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
The evolutionary status of the stellar population in the rho Ophiuchi cloud coreThis contribution reports the results of an infrared imaging survey aimed at characterizing the stellar populations associated with the three densest star-forming cores in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud complex. The survey has sufficient sensitivity at J, H, and K (at 5 sigma limits of 16.5, 15.4, and 14.2) to provide a complete census of embedded young stellar objects (YSOs) with masses greater than the hydrogen-burning limit, provided that their ages are less than 3 Myr and that they are obscured by no more than approximately 18 mag of visual extinction. Our data suggest (1) a large fraction (greater than 70%) of the sources located within the cores are still surrounded by circumstellar disks and/or envelopes; and (2) the shape of the initial mass function for masses, M less than 1 solar mass, appears to be consistent with that derived from the solar neighborhood. We also report the results of a deeper imaging survey of centimeter continuum sources (14 sources) in these star-forming cores and in the larger Ophiuchus complex (eight sources). A large fraction (11/14) of the radio sources associated with the cores appear to have infrared excesses diagnostic of circumstellar accretion disks and/or infalling circumstellar envelopes. In these cases, the centimeter continuum radiation most likely diagnoses the ionized component of energetic winds or jets which characterizes YSOs during the disk accretion phase. By contrast, of the eight radio sources located outside dense cores, only two show infrared excesses.
Document ID
19950036983
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Strom, Karen M.
(Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA United States)
Kepner, Jeremy
(Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA United States)
Strom, Stephen E.
(Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 10, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 1
Volume: 438
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
95A68582
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available