We present observations of similar to 7 deg(2) of the North American and Pelican Nebulae region at 24, 70, and 160 mu m with the Spitzer Space Telescope Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). We incorporate the MIPS observations with earlier Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) observations, as well as archival near-infrared (IR) and optical data. We use the MIPS data to identify 1286 young stellar object (YSO) candidates. IRAC data alone can identify 806 more YSO candidates, for a total of 2076 YSO candidates. Prior to the Spitzer observations, there were only similar to 200 YSOs known in this region. Three subregions within the complex are highlighted as clusters: the Gulf of Mexico, the Pelican, and the Pelican's Hat. The Gulf of Mexico cluster is subject to the highest extinction (A(V) at least similar to 30) and has the widest range of infrared colors of the three clusters, including the largest excesses and by far the most point-source detections at 70 mu m. Just 3% of the cluster members were previously identified; we have redefined this cluster as about 10-100 times larger (in projected area) than was previously realized.

We report the results of a study of the intermediate and high mass stars in the young, rich star-forming complex IC 1805, based on a combination of optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared photometry, and classification spectra. These data provide the basis for characterizing the masses and ages for stars more massive than ~2 Msun and enable a study of the frequency and character of circumstellar disks associated with intermediate- and high-mass stars. Optically thick accretion disks among stars with masses 2 < M/Msun <4 are rare (~2% of members) and absent among more massive stars. A larger fraction (~10%) of stars with masses 2 < M/Msun < 4 appear to be surrounded by disks that have evolved from the initial optically thick accretion phase. We identify four classes of such disks. These classes are based on spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of excess emsission above photospheric levels: disks that are (1) optically thin based on the magnitude of the observed excess emission from 2 to 24 um; (2) optically thin in their inner regions (r< 20 AU) and optically thick in their outer regions; (3) exhibit empty inner regions (r < 10 AU) and optically thin emission in their outer regions; and (4) exhibit empty inner regions and optically thick outer regions. We discuss, and assess the merits and liabilities of, proposed explanations for disks exhibiting these SED types and suggest additional observations that would test these proposals.

We report on the properties of pre-main-sequence objects in the Taurus molecular clouds as observed in seven mid-and far-infrared bands with the Spitzer Space Telescope. There are 215 previously identified members of the Taurus star-forming region in our similar to 44 deg(2) map; these members exhibit a range of Spitzer colors that we take to define young stars still surrounded by circumstellar dust (noting that similar to 20% of the bona fide Taurus members exhibit no detectable dust excesses). We looked for new objects in the survey field with similar Spitzer properties, aided by extensive optical, X-ray, and ultraviolet imaging, and found 148 new candidate members of Taurus. We have obtained follow-up spectroscopy for about half the candidate sample, thus far confirming 34 new members, three probable new members, and 10 possible new members, an increase of 15%-20% in Taurus members. Of the objects for which we have spectroscopy, seven are now confirmed extragalactic objects, and one is a background Be star. The remaining 93 candidate objects await additional analysis and/or data to be confirmed or rejected as Taurus members. Most of the new members are Class II M stars and are located along the same cloud filaments as the previously identified Taurus members. Among non-members with Spitzer colors similar to young, dusty stars are evolved Be stars, planetary nebulae, carbon stars, galaxies, and active galactic nuclei.

We report sensitive Spitzer IRS spectroscopy in the 10-20 micron region of TW Hya, a nearby T Tauri star. The unusual spectral energy distribution of the source, that of a transition object, indicates that the circumstellar disk in the system has experienced significant evolution, possibly as a result of planet formation. The spectrum we measure is strikingly different from that of other classical T Tauri stars reported in the literature, displaying no strong emission features of water, acetylene, or HCN. The difference indicates that the inner planet formation region (within 5 AU) of the gaseous disk has evolved physically and/or chemically away from the classical T Tauri norm. Nevertheless, TW Hya does show a rich spectrum of emission features of atoms (HI, [NeII], and [NeIII]) and molecules (H2, OH, CO2, HCO+, and possibly CH3), some of which are also detected in classical T Tauri spectra. The properties of the neon emission are consistent with an origin for the emission in a disk irradiated by X-rays (with a possible role for additional irradiation by stellar EUV). The OH emission we detect, which also likely originates in the disk, is hot, arising from energy levels up to 23,000 K above ground, and may be produced by the UV photodissociation of water. The HI emission is surprisingly strong, with relative strengths that are consistent with case B recombination. While the absence of strong molecular emission in the 10-20 micron region may indicate that the inner region of the gaseous disk has been partly cleared by an orbiting giant planet, chemical and/or excitation effects may be responsible instead. We discuss these issues and how our results bear on our understanding of the evolutionary state of the TW Hya disk.

Based on a panel discussion at the meeting "New Light on Young Stars: Spitzer's View of Circumstellar Disks", we provide some definitions of common usage of terms describing disks and related objects.

We present a 9 deg^2 map of the North American and Pelican Nebulae regions obtained in all four IRAC channels with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The resulting photometry is merged with that at JHKs from 2MASS and a more spatially limited $BVI$ survey from previous ground-based work. We use a mixture of color- color diagrams to select a minimally contaminated set of more than 1600 objects that we claim are young stellar objects (YSOs) associated with the star forming region. Because our selection technique uses IR excess as a requirement, our sample is strongly biased against inclusion of Class III YSOs. The distribution of IRAC spectral slopes for our YSOs indicates that most of these objects are Class II, with a peak towards steeper spectral slopes but a substantial contribution from a tail of flat spectrum and Class I type objects. By studying the small fraction of the sample that is optically visible, we infer a typical age of a few Myr for the low mass population. The young stars are clustered, with about a third of them located in eight clusters that are located within or near the LDN 935 dark cloud. Half of the YSOs are located in regions with surface densities higher than 1000 YSOs / deg^2. The Class I objects are more clustered than the Class II stars.

The smallest molecular cores observed to date have at least ∼6 orders of magnitude greater angular momentum per unit mass than the Sun, suggesting that they would greatly exceed the breakup velocity if no angular momentum was lost during the star formation process. Therefore, an angular momentum regulation mechanism must be at work in the pre-main-sequence phase, and disks are often invoked as the solution to the angular momentum problem. Thanks to large-format CCDs, more than 1000 periods for young stars are now known (with more being presented at this conference), and with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have the ability to get reliable circumstellar disk indicators for many 1000s of stars at once. Now, for the first time, we may have enough stars to start to constrain the angular momentum loss mechanism in a meaningful fashion. In this contribution, we review the observations made to date of rotation in pre-main-sequence low-mass stars.

We present the results of a study aimed at assessing the distribution of rotation speeds, N(v sin i) among O- and early B-type stars located in R136, a young (t similar to 1-4 Myr) cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) characterized by a stellar density at least three times that of the densest Galactic clusters in which stellar rotational velocities have been measured. Our goals are (1) to determine whether the distribution of N(v sin i) in R136 shows the same paucity of slowly rotating stars and high mean rotation speed that distinguish early-type stars located in bound clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) from their analogs among members of the field and unbound associations and (2) to determine whether the mean rotation speed in the extremely dense R136 cluster is even higher than the values measured for lower-density bound clusters. Our data comprise v sin i estimates for 24 stars obtained by comparing line profile measurements obtained with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectograph on the Gemini South Telescope with a grid of He i and He II line profiles generated from model atmospheres and broadened to emulate the effects of stellar rotation. We find that for R136, 13 stars with masses in the range 6-12M(circle dot) have an average apparent rotational velocity of < v sin i > = 233 +/- 19 km s(-1); by comparison, for LMC stars in this same mass range in the field and in lower-density clusters, < v sin i > is, respectively, 105 +/- 8 km s-1 and 147 +/- 14 km s-1. For 11 15-30 M-circle dot stars in R136, < v sin i > = 189 +/- 23 km s(-1); by comparison, the LMC stars in this same mass range but drawn from lower-density regions have < v sin i > = 129 +/- 13 km s(-1). Moreover, we find that throughout this entire mass range, R136 lacks the cohort of slow rotators characteristic of early-type field stars, both in the LMC and in the MWG. We provide arguments that these differences in N(v sin i) are unlikely to arise from evolution-driven changes in angular momentum (e. g., angular momentum loss through stellar winds), but rather may reflect differences in the rotation speeds imprinted at the time the stars formed. This result appears most certain for stars with masses in the range 6-12M(circle dot); for stars of higher masses, larger samples from regions of differing densities are needed to more firmly establish that the observed differences are imprinted during the stellar assembly phase as opposed to being the result of subsequent evolution. We further argue that the differences in N(v sin i) between R136 and the LMC and MWG field stars likely result from a difference in the initial conditions in protostellar cores that are found in the types of molecular cloud regions that form rich, dense clusters (e. g., higher turbulent speeds) rather than from differences in the environment surrounding the core (e. g., stellar density, UV radiation field).

VAST CLOUDS of gas and dust are swirling throughout our Milky Way galaxy. Many of these clouds are stellar nurseries, places where one star (in the case of small clouds) to tens of thousands of stars (in the case of the largest and most massive clouds) are being born right now. These clouds range in size from cores that are 100,000 times the size of the Solar System and a mass of several suns (solar masses), to giant clouds more than ten million times the size of our Solar System and many thousands to tens of thousands of solar masses. A typical star-forming cloud might create very few massive stars (20 solar masses or more), many stars like our Sun, and many more lower-mass stars and brown dwarfs, which are objects with a mass smaller than the 0.08 solar masses needed to produce stars fueled by nuclear fusion. An umbrella term for all of these newly-forming objects is young stellar objects (YSOs).

We present the results of a study aimed at assessing the differences in the dis- tribution of rotation speeds, N (v sin i) among young (1-15 Myr) B stars spanning a range of masses 6 < M/M < 12 and located in different environments: 7 low density (rho < 1 M /pc^3) ensembles that are destined to become unbound stellar associations, and 8 high density (rho >> 1 M /pc^3) ensembles that will survive as rich, bound stellar clusters for ages well in excess of 10^8 years. Our results demonstrate (1) that independent of environment, the rotation rates for stars in this mass range do not change by more than 0.1 dex over ages t 1 to t 15 Myr; and (2) that stars formed in high density regions lack the cohort of slow rotators that dominate the low density regions and young field stars. We suggest that the differences in N(v sin i) between low and high density regions may reflect a combination of initial conditions and environmental effects: (1) the higher turbulent speeds that characterize molecular gas in high density, cluster- forming regions; and (2) the stronger UV radiation fields and high stellar densities that characterize such regions.