Infrared imaging of the sub-millimetre protocluster near NGC 2068 in Orion B

Abstract

Sub-millimetre mapping of Orion B (L1630) using SCUBA on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope has revealed a large population of compact cores (Mitchell et al. 2001). Using the CFHT-IR camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, seven fields in NGC 2068 in Orion B were imaged in the near-infrared, both in a narrowband K continuum filter (2.260 μm) and in a narrow filter centred on the 2.122 μm line of H₂. The infrared images show many non-stellar and resolved features near several of the SCUBA cores, indicating the presence of embedded stellar objects and shock-excited gas.

We compare the infrared maps with the 850 μm sub-millimetre map, as well as a previously obtained map of CO J = 3-2 gas and H₂CO spectra in order to assess the likelihood of star formation for each SCUBA core.