Hα Emission-Line Stars in Molecular Clouds. I. The NGC 2264 Region

• We present a deep survey of Hα emission-line stars in the NGC 2264 region using wide-field objective prism films. We find 357 Hα emission-line stars, of which 113 were previously detected, within an area of 3°×3° centered on the Cone Nebula, with a majority of stars being concentrated in a dense cluster at the center of the region. We present a large-scale CO map of NGC 2264 and find a strong correlation between the cluster of Hα emission-line stars and the most massive core in the cloud complex. A more extended halo of stars poorly correlated with the gas may represent stars that have drifted away from their birth place, suggesting that star formation has taken place in NGC 2264 for several million years.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Stars: Emission-Line

Be

Stars: Formation

Stars:Pre-Main-Sequence

Astronomy and astrophysics

Astronomi och astrofysik

Astronomy with specialization in Astrophysics

Astronomi med intiktning mot astrofysik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)