The Star Formation History of Orion and Its Environs

Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Calvet, Nuria "The Star Formation History of Orion & Its Environs" AST-9987367 An intensive survey effort will be undertaken to find and study the young low mass stars in the Orion OB1 star-forming region. The survey will provide a unique foundation for several major investigations: (1) timescales for star formation and cloud dispersal; (2) likelihood of triggered star formation by searching for sequential age groups; (3) cluster dynamics; and (4) identification of a statistically significant sample of stars from which stellar disk evolution can be studied. The survey effort will be conducted at the 1-m telescope at the National Observatory in Venezuela. Follow-up high-resolution spectroscopy will be performed at the 6.5-m MMT telescope at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona. It is anticipated that ~40,000 variable stars will be identified and that a database of ~35,000 stellar spectra will be compiled and classified during the course of the project. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Stellar Astronomy & Astrophysics (AST/SAA).