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arXiv · astro-ph/0404093

A systematic search for massive young stars in the Galaxy - the RMS survey

Abstract

We have selected red MSX sources (RMS) that have the colours of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). Our aim is to generate a large, systematically selected sample to address questions such as their luminosity function, lifetimes, clustering and triggering. Other objects such as UCHIIs, PN, PPN and AGB stars have similar IR colours and a large programme of ground-based follow-up observations is underway to identify and eliminate these from the sample of the red MSX sources. These include radio continuum observations, kinematic distances, ground-based mid-IR imaging, near-IR imaging and spectroscopy to distinguish. We report the progress of these campaigns on the 3000 candidates, with initial indications showing that a substantial fraction are indeed massive YSOs.

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BibTeXRIS

MG Hoare, SL Lumsden, RD Oudmaijer, AL Busfield, TL King, TLJ Moore. 2004-04-05. A systematic search for massive young stars in the Galaxy - the RMS survey. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0404093

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