Issue |
A&A
Volume 549, January 2013
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | L1 | |
Number of page(s) | 9 | |
Section | Letters | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201219511 | |
Published online | 07 December 2012 |
Letter to the Editor
Recent star formation in the Lupus clouds as seen by Herschel⋆,⋆⋆
1
Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (INAF-IAPS), via del Fosso
del Cavaliere 100,
00133
Roma,
Italy
e-mail: kazi.rygl@inaf.it
2
Laboratoire AIM Paris-Saclay, CEA/IRFU CNRS/INSU Université Paris
Diderot, 91191
Gif-sur-Yvette,
France
3
CESR, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (CNRS-UPS), Université de
Toulouse, BP
44346, 31028
Toulouse,
France
4
Rutherford Appleton LIbrary, Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0NL, UK
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Open
University, Milton
Keynes, UK
6
University of Athens, Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and
Mechanics, Faculty of Physics, Panepistimiopolis, 15784 Zografos, Athens, Greece
7
CNRS/INSU, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux UMR
5904, BP 89,
33271
Floirac,
France
8
Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan
200D, 3001
Leuven,
Belgium
9
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of
Victoria, PO Box 355, STN
CSC, Victoria BC,
V8W 3P6,
Canada
10
National Research Council Canada, Herzberg Institute of
Astrophysics, 5071 West Saanich
Road, Victoria BC,
V9E 2E7,
Canada
11
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), University
of Toronto, 60 St. George
Street, Toronto,
ON, M5S 3H8, Canada
12
European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 87548
Garching bei München,
Germany
13
INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Large E. Fermi
5, 50125
Firenze,
Italy
14 Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central
Lancashire, PR1 2HE, UK
Received: 30 April 2012
Accepted: 16 November 2012
We present a study of the star formation histories of the Lupus I, III, and IV clouds using the Herschel 70–500 μm maps obtained by the Herschel Gould Belt Survey Key Project. By combining the new Herschel data with the existing Spitzer catalog we obtained an unprecedented census of prestellar sources and young stellar objects in the Lupus clouds, which allowed us to study the overall star formation rate (SFR) and efficiency (SFE). The high SFE of Lupus III, its decreasing SFR, and its large number of pre-main sequence stars with respect to proto- and prestellar sources, suggest that Lupus III is the most evolved cloud, and after having experienced a major star formation event in the past, is now approaching the end of its current star-forming cycle. Lupus I is currently undergoing a large star formation event, apparent by the increasing SFR, the large number of prestellar objects with respect to more evolved objects, and the high percentage of material at high extinction (e.g., above AV ≈ 8 mag). Also Lupus IV has an increasing SFR; however, the relative number of prestellar sources is much lower, suggesting that its star formation has not yet reached its peak.
Key words: stars: formation / stars: protostars / ISM: individual objects: Lupus I / ISM: individual objects: Lupus III / ISM: individual objects: Lupus IV / infrared: ISM
Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.
Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2012
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