The Gould's Belt distance survey

TL;DR

The Gould's Belt Distance Survey uses VLBI to precisely measure distances and motions of young stars in nearby star-forming regions, improving understanding of local star formation and structure.

Contribution

It introduces a large VLBI-based survey to map the three-dimensional structure and kinematics of Gould's Belt star-forming regions.

Findings

Distances to key star-forming regions have been constrained.

Internal structures and kinematics of these regions are being mapped.

The survey enhances understanding of local star formation processes.

Abstract

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations can provide the position of compact radio sources with an accuracy of order 50 micro-arcseconds. This is sufficient to measure the trigonometric parallax and proper motions of any object within 500 pc of the Sun to better than a few percent. Because they are magnetically active, young stars are often associated with compact radio emission detectable using VLBI techniques. Here we will show how VLBI observations have already constrained the distance to the most often studied nearby regions of star-formation (Taurus, Ophiuchus, Orion, etc.) and have started to provide information on their internal structure and kinematics. We will then briefly describe a large project (called The Gould's Belt Distance Survey) designed to provide a detailed view of star-formation in the Solar neighborhood using VLBI observations.