The young stellar population of Lynds 1340. An infrared view

TL;DR

This study uses infrared observations to identify and characterize the young stellar population in Lynds 1340, revealing multiple star-forming groups and new protostars, thereby enhancing understanding of intermediate-mass star formation in our Galaxy.

Contribution

It provides a detailed infrared-based analysis of Lynds 1340's young stellar objects and their spatial distribution, including new discoveries of protostars and Herbig-Haro objects, linking cloud properties to star formation.

Findings

Identified 170 Class II, 27 Flat SED, and Class 0/I sources.

Discovered eight new young stars with near-infrared excess.

Mapped three stellar groups associated with molecular clumps.

Abstract

We present results of an infrared study of the molecular cloud Lynds 1340, forming three groups of low and intermediate-mass stars. Our goals are to identify and characterise the young stellar population of the cloud, study the relationships between the properties of the cloud and the emergent stellar groups, and integrate L1340 into the picture of the star-forming activity of our Galactic environment. We selected candidate young stellar objects from the Spitzer and WISE data bases using various published color criteria, and classified them based on the slope of the spectral energy distribution. We identified 170 Class II, 27 Flat SED, and Class 0/I sources. High angular resolution near-infrared observations of the RNO 7 cluster, embedded in L1340, revealed eight new young stars of near-infrared excess. The surface density distribution of young stellar objects shows three groups, associated with the three major molecular clumps of L1340, each consisting of less than 100 members, including both pre-main sequence stars and embedded protostars. New Herbig--Haro objects were identified in the Spitzer images. Our results demonstrate that L1340 is a prolific star-forming region of our Galactic environment in which several specific properties of the intermediate-mass mode of star formation can be studied in detail.