IRAS 20050+2720: Anatomy of a young stellar cluster

TL;DR

This study analyzes the structure and stellar populations of the IRAS 20050+2720 star-forming region, revealing four subclusters with varying evolutionary stages using multiwavelength data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed multiwavelength characterization of the subcluster structure and stellar content in IRAS 20050+2720, including the discovery of a new subcluster.

Findings

Four subclusters identified with varying ages and compositions

Dense subclusters contain stars of all evolutionary stages

A new subcluster mainly of class II objects discovered

Abstract

We present early results of our multiwavelength study of the star forming region IRAS 20050+2720. While we use X-rays and IR to classify young stellar objects, the optical data can be used to exclude foreground objects. The dataset set contains 57 class I sources, 183 class II sources and 183 X-ray sources, of which 140 are class III candidates. Within IRAS 20050+2720 four subclusters are found. Subcluster A and B are the densest regions, which contain stars of all evolutionary stages. Subcluster C is much younger than the other two. It has not formed any class III objects yet. We newly identify a fourth subcluster, which consists mostly of class II objects and is located about 10 arcmin from the center of the cloud.