The Stellar Population And Origin Of The Mysterious High-Latitude Star Forming Cloud CG 12

TL;DR

This study reveals a large, young stellar population in the high-latitude globule CG12, with implications for its star formation history, efficiency, and possible external triggering by supernova remnants.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive X-ray survey of CG12, identifying over 50 young stars and analyzing their properties and origins, challenging simple star formation models.

Findings

Discovered over 50 T-Tauri stars and one protostar in CG12.

Star formation efficiency estimated at 15-35%.

Evidence of multiple triggering episodes and external influences.

Abstract

The mysterious high galactic latitude cometary globule CG12 has been observed with the ACIS detector on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We detect 128 X-ray sources; half are likely young stars formed within the globule's head. This new population of >50 T-Tauri stars and one new embedded protostar is far larger than the previously reported few intermediate-mass and two protostellar members of the cloud. Most of the newly discovered stars have masses 0.2-0.7Mo, and 9-15% have K-band excesses from inner protoplanetary disks. X-ray properties provide an independent distance estimate consistent with CG12's unusual location >200pc above the Galactic plane. The star formation efficiency in CG12 appears to be 15-35%, far above that seen in other triggered molecular globules. The median photometric age found for the T-Tauri population is ~4Myr with a large spread of <1-20Myr and ongoing star formation in the molecular cores. The stellar age and spatial distributions are inconsistent with a simple radiation driven implosion (RDI) model, and suggest either that CG12 is an atypically large shocked globule, or it has been subject to several distinct episodes of triggering and ablation. We report a previously unnoticed group of B-type stars northwest of CG12 which may be the remnants of an OB association which produced multiple supernova explosions that could have shocked and ablated the cloud over a 15-30Myr period. HD120958 (B3e), the most luminous member of the group, may be currently driving an RDI shock into the CG12 cloud.