Spitzer Space Telescope - Archive Research Proposal #40592


Peering into the Heart of Galactic Star Formation

Principal Investigator: Edwin  Bergin
           Institution: University of Michigan

     Technical Contact: Sarah Ragan, University of Michigan

Co-Investigators: 
Sarah Ragan, University of Michigan                                   

Science Category: star formation 
Dollars Approved: 70221 

Abstract:
Key to the advancement of a star formation study is the identification and
characterization of the earliest stages of the process. Infrared dark clouds are
excellent candidates for the precursors to massive stars and stellar clusters.
Furthermore, the location of many IRDCs is in the Galactic Molecular Ring, where
the majority of stars are born in our Galaxy. Given the larger distances, the
similarity between the process of star formation in the Ring and in the local
clouds is relatively unexplored. We have developed a technique for isolating
fragmenting clumps with IRDCs and determining their properties in an automated
manner based on absorbing structures evident in IRAC 8-micron and MIPS 24-micron
images. We propose here to exploit the wealth of data in the GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL
archives to compile a sample of thousands of clumps with the following
scientific goals: determine the clump mass function, isolate the pre-stellar
phase of massive stars, examine the clump mass-size relation, and evaluate the
level of mass segregation. The proposed study offers the opportunity to
characterize and contrast star formation in a new environment as has been done
for local clouds.