Star formation near Berkeley 59: embedded protostars

Abstract

A group of suspected protostars in a dark cloud northwest of the young (∼2 Myr) cluster Berkeley 59 and two sources in a pillar south of the cluster have been studied in order to determine their evolutionary stages and ascertain whether their formation was triggered by Berkeley 59. Narrowband near-infrared observations from the Observatoire du Mont Megantic, [superscript 12]CO (J = 3–2) and SCUBA-2 (450 and 850 [micrometers]) observations from the JCMT, 2MASS, and WISE images, and data extracted from the IPHAS survey catalog were used. Of 12 sources studied, two are Class I objects, while three others are flat/Class II, one of which is a T Tauri candidate. A weak CO outflow and two potential starless cores are present in the cloud, while the pillar possesses substructure at different velocities, with no outflows present. The CO spectra of both regions show peaks in the range v[subscript LSR] = −15 to −17 km s[superscript −1], which agrees with the velocity adopted for Berkeley 59 (−15.7 km s[superscript −1]), while spectral energy distribution models yield an average interstellar extinction A[subscript V] and distance of 15 [plus or minus] 2 mag and 830 [plus or minus] 120 pc, respectively, for the cloud, and 6.9 mag and 912 pc for the pillar, indicating that the regions are in the same vicinity as Berkeley 59. The formation of the pillar source appears to have been triggered by Berkeley 59. It is unclear whether Berkeley 59 triggered the association’s formation.