Optical photometric GTC/OSIRIS observations of the young massive association Cygnus OB2

TL;DR

This study presents the deepest optical catalog of the young massive Cygnus OB2 association, combining optical and X-ray data to analyze stellar populations, extinction, and cloud distribution in this star-forming region.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive optical catalog of Cygnus OB2 and analyzes extinction and stellar distribution, enhancing understanding of star formation in massive stellar environments.

Findings

Catalog contains 64,157 sources down to 0.15 solar masses.

Median extinction AV=4.33 in the association center.

Main sequence stars suggest a foreground cloud at 850 pc.

Abstract

In order to fully understand the gravitational collapse of molecular clouds, the star formation process and the evolution of circumstellar disks, these phenomena must be studied in different Galactic environments with a range of stellar contents and positions in the Galaxy. The young massive association Cygnus OB2, in the Cygnus-X region, is an unique target to study how star formation and the evolution of circumstellar disks proceed in the presence of a large number of massive stars. We present a catalog obtained with recent optical observations in r,i,z filters with OSIRIS, mounted on the $10.4\,m$ GTC telescope, which is the deepest optical catalog of Cyg OB2 to date. The catalog consist of 64157 sources down to M=0.15 solar masses at the adopted distance and age of Cyg OB2. A total of 38300 sources have good photometry in all three bands. We combined the optical catalog with existing X-ray data of this region, in order to define the cluster locus in the optical diagrams. The cluster locus in the r-i vs. i-z diagram is compatible with an extinction of the optically selected cluster members in the 2.64<AV<5.57 range. We derive an extinction map of the region, finding a median value of AV=4.33 in the center of the association, decreasing toward the north-west. In the color-magnitude diagrams, the shape of the distribution of main sequence stars is compatible with the presence of an obscuring cloud in the foreground at about 850+/-25 pc from the Sun.