Star formation in the "Gulf of Mexico"

T. Armond, B. Reipurth, J. Bally, C. Aspin

Abstract
We present an optical/infrared study of the dense molecular cloud, L935, dubbed "The Gulf of Mexico", which separates the North America and the Pelican nebulae, and we demonstrate that this area is a very active star forming region. A wide-field imaging study with interference filters has revealed 35 new Herbig-Haro objects in the Gulf of Mexico. A grism survey has identified 41 Hα emissionline stars, 30 of them new. A small cluster of partly embedded pre-main sequence stars is located around the known LkHα 185-189 group of stars, which includes the recently erupting FUor HBC 722.

Keywords
Herbig-Haro objects - stars: formation

Notes
Part of this work was performed at Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal.
Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility which is operated by the University of Hawaii under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume 528, Page A125_1
April 2011

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200912671
ADS Bibliographic code: 2011A&A...528A.125A