# The Spitzer c2d Survey of Large, Nearby, Interstellar Clouds VIII. Serpens Observed with MIPS

## TL;DR

This study presents detailed infrared maps of the Serpens dark cloud, identifying a significant population of young stellar objects and correlating their locations with dust and extinction features.

## Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive infrared survey of Serpens with MIPS, identifying YSO candidates and analyzing their distribution relative to dust and extinction.

## Key findings

- Over 2400 sources at 24μm identified
- Clear population of YSO candidates distinguished from background
- Embedded YSOs correlate with high extinction regions

## Abstract

We present maps of 1.5 square degrees of the Serpens dark cloud at 24, 70, and 160\micron observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope MIPS Camera. More than 2400 compact sources have been extracted at 24um, nearly 100 at 70um, and 4 at 160um. We estimate completeness limits for our 24um survey from Monte Carlo tests with artificial sources inserted into the Spitzer maps. We compare source counts, colors, and magnitudes in the Serpens cloud to two reference data sets, a 0.50 deg^2 set on a low-extinction region near the dark cloud, and a 5.3 deg^2 subset of the SWIRE ELAIS N1 data that was processed through our pipeline. These results show that there is an easily identifiable population of young stellar object candidates in the Serpens Cloud that is not present in either of the reference data sets. We also show a comparison of visual extinction and cool dust emission illustrating a close correlation between the two, and find that the most embedded YSO candidates are located in the areas of highest visual extinction.