3 research outputs found
Spitzer Imaging of the Nearby Rich Young Cluster, Cep OB3b
We map the full extent of a rich massive young cluster in the Cep OB3b
association with the IRAC and MIPS instruments aboard the {\it Spitzer} Space
Telescope and the ACIS instrument aboard the X-Ray Observatory.
At 700 pc, it is revealed to be the second nearest large ( member),
young ( Myr) cluster known. In contrast to the nearest large cluster, the
Orion Nebula Cluster, Cep OB3b is only lightly obscured and is mostly located
in a large cavity carved out of the surrounding molecular cloud. Our infrared
and X-ray datasets, as well as visible photometry from the literature, are used
to take a census of the young stars in Cep OB3b. We find that the young stars
within the cluster are concentrated in two sub-clusters; an eastern
sub-cluster, near the Cep B molecular clump, and a western sub-cluster, near
the Cep F molecular clump. Using our census of young stars, we examine the
fraction of young stars with infrared excesses indicative of circumstellar
disks. We create a map of the disk fraction throughout the cluster and find
that it is spatially variable. Due to these spatial variations, the two
sub-clusters exhibit substantially different average disk fractions from each
other: and . We discuss whether the discrepant disk
fractions are due to the photodestruction of disks by the high mass members of
the cluster or whether they result from differences in the ages of the
sub-clusters. We conclude that the discrepant disk fractions are most likely
due to differences in the ages.Comment: 48 Pages, 12 figures, 6 table
The X-Ray Environment During the Epoch of Terrestrial Planet Formation: Chandra Observations of h Persei
We describe Chandra/ACIS-I observations of the massive ~ 13--14 Myr-old
cluster, h Persei, part of the famous Double Cluster (h and chi Persei) in
Perseus. Combining the list of Chandra-detected sources with new optical/IR
photometry and optical spectroscopy reveals ~ 165 X-ray bright stars with V <
23. Roughly 142 have optical magnitudes and colors consistent with cluster
membership. The observed distribution of Lx peaks at Lx ~ 10^30.3 ergs/s and
likely traces the bright edge of a far larger population of ~ 0.4--2 Msun X-ray
active stars. From a short list of X-ray active stars with IRAC 8 micron excess
from warm, terrestrial-zone dust, we derive a maximum X-ray flux incident on
forming terrestrial planets. Although there is no correlation between X-ray
activity and IRAC excess, the fractional X-ray luminosity correlates with
optical colors and spectral type. By comparing the distribution of Lx/L* vs.
spectral type and V-I in h Per with results for other 1--100 Myr-old clusters,
we show that stars slightly more massive than the Sun (> 1.5 Msun) fall out of
X-ray saturation by ~ 10--15 Myr. Changes in stellar structure for > 1.5 Msun
stars likely play an important role in this decline of X-ray emission.Comment: 34 pages, 7 Figures, 2 Tables; Accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa