Protostars -- Poster Presentation

Spitzer ``Cores to Disks'' (c2d) MIPS Mapping of the Perseus Molecular Cloud

Luisa Rebull, SSC/JPL/Caltech

K.R. Stapelfeldt (JPL/Caltech), T.Y. Brooke (Caltech), D.L. Padgett (SSC/Caltech), A.I.Sargent, M. Enoch (Caltech), N.J. Evans (Texas), Spitzer c2d Legacy Science Team

The Perseus molecular cloud complex, located at a distance of 320 pc, is one of five nearby star-forming regions being mapped in the Spitzer ``c2d'' Legacy Science Program. These observations are expected to characterize the luminosity function for low-mass star formation down into the realm of hydrostatic cores, proto-substellar objects, and edge-on disks. By mapping the entire molecular cloud inside the A$_V$= 2 contour, we also expect to reveal any distributed star formation taking place outside the well-known clusters associated with NGC 1333 and IC 348. In this contribution, we present an early look at MIPS scan maps covering ~4 square degrees of the Perseus clouds. Dozens of IRAS PSC objects are spurious patches of extended emission, and many PSC sources are resolved into multiple. Several sources appear extended at 24 microns. Over large areas, there is complex extended emission, dominated by the Gl159.6 HII region which is illuminated by a B0 star.