From molecular cores to planet-forming disks: An SIRTF legacy program

By N. Evans II, et al. 2003

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Crucial steps in the formation of stars and planets can be studied only at mid‐ to far‐infrared wavelengths, where the Space Infrared Telescope (SIRTF) provides an unprecedented improvement in sensitivity. We will use all three SIRTF instruments (Infrared Array Camera [IRAC], Multiband Imaging Photometer for SIRTF [MIPS], and Infrared Spectrograph [IRS]) to observe sources that span the evolutionary sequence from molecular cores to protoplanetary disks, encompassing a wide range of cloud masses, stellar masses, and star‐forming environments. In addition to targeting about 150 known compact cores, we will survey with IRAC and MIPS (3.6–70 μm) the entire areas of five of the nearest large molecular clouds for new candidate protostars and substellar objects as faint as 0.001 solar luminosities. We will also observe with IRAC and MIPS about 190 systems likely to be in the early stages of planetary system formation (ages up to about 10 Myr), probing the evolution of the circumstellar dust, the raw material for planetary cores. Candidate planet‐forming disks as small as 0.1 lunar masses will be detectable. Spectroscopy with IRS of new objects found in the surveys and of a select group of known objects will add vital information on the changing chemical and physical conditions in the disks and envelopes. The resulting data products will include catalogs of thousands of previously unknown sources, multiwavelength maps of about 20 deg^2 of molecular clouds, photometry of about 190 known young stars, spectra of at least 170 sources, ancillary data from ground‐based telescopes, and new tools for analysis and modeling. These products will constitute the foundations for many follow‐up studies with ground‐based telescopes, as well as with SIRTF itself and other space missions such as SIM, JWST, Herschel, and TPF/Darwin.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Spectroscopy

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/706721901c5afccc3d4282eef382f4784f36d8db

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Citations in the corpus

The Spitzer c2d Survey of Weak-Line T Tauri Stars. II. New Constraints on the Timescale for Planet Building (2007, background): “One of the main goals of the Spitzer Legacy Project “From Molecular Cores to Planet-forming Disks” (c2d; Evans et al. 2003) is to determine whether or not most wTTs have circumstellar disks and to characterize their properties and evolutionary status.”
Cold Disks: Spitzer Spectroscopy of Disks around Young Stars with Large Gaps (2007, background): “These cold disk sources were identified in the firstlook survey of the Cores to Disks (c2d)Spitzer Legacy Project (Evans et al. 2003), comprising∼100 young (!”
THE TAURUS SPITZER SURVEY: NEW CANDIDATE TAURUS MEMBERS SELECTED USING SENSITIVE MID-INFRARED PHOTOMETRY (2009, background): “For many star-forming regions studied with Spitzer, e.g., many of those observed by the Cores-to-Disks (c2d; Evans et al. 2003) and Gould’s Belt (Allen et al. in preparation) projects, the source surface density is high enough that blind merging by position causes an unacceptable rate of false…”
Protoplanetary Disks and Their Evolution (2011, background): “…of pre-main sequence stars Firmly establishing the longevity of primordial disks was one of the central goals of two Spitzer Legacy Programs: “From Molecular Cores to Planet-forming Disks” (cd2: Evans et al. 2003) and “Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems” (FEPS: Meyer et al. 2006).”
The Spitzer c2d Survey of Large, Nearby, Interstellar Clouds. III. Perseus Observed with IRAC (2006, background): “A major goal of the Spitzer Space Telescope legacy project “From Molecular Cores to Planet Forming Disks” (c2d; Evans et al. 2003) is to characterize star formation in a variety of environments through a combination of mapping and spectroscopic observations utilizing the full palette of Spitzer…”
PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURES IN OPHIUCHUS (2009, methodology): “The SED used here was compiled from the optical survey by Wilking et al. (2005), the 2MASS database (Cutri et al. 2003), Spitzer photometry (Evans et al. 2003; Padgett et al. 2008), and integrated millimeter flux densities (350-1300 µm; Andrews & Williams 2007a,b).”
X-Ray-Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk Atmospheres. I. Predicted Emission-Line Spectrum and Photoevaporation (2008, background): “The discovery of the “proplyd” phenomenon and subsequent observations of protoplanetary disks represent an important and growing part of the legacies of the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes (e.g. O’Dell 1993, Bally et al. 1998, Evans et al. 2003, Meyer et al. 2004).”
The Mass Distribution and Lifetime of Prestellar Cores in Perseus, Serpens, and Ophiuchus (2008, methodology): “The 1.1 mm Bolocam surveys are complemented by large Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC and MIPS maps of the same clouds from the “From Molecular Cores to Planet-forming Disks” Spitzer Legacy program (“Cores to Disks” or c2d; Evans et al. 2003).”
VLBA Determination of the Distance to Nearby Star-forming Regions. II. Hubble 4 and HDE 283572 in Taurus (2007, background): “On the observational front, significant progress is currently being made thanks to large on-going X-ray and infrared surveys of nearby star-forming regions carried out with space observatories (e.g., Evans et al. 2003; Güdel et al. 2007).”
The spatial distribution of star formation in the solar neighbourhood: do all stars form in dense clusters? (2010, background): “, Cores to Disks (c2d) survey (Evans et al. 2003), and the Taurus survey (Rebull et al. 2010).”
VLBA Determination of the Distance to Nearby Star-forming Regions. I. The Distance to T Tauri with 0.4% Accuracy (2007, background): “In the meantime, extremely high quality infrared and X-ray surveys of many star-forming regions are being obtained (e.g., Evans et al. 2003; Güdel et al. 2007), and their potential cannot be fully exploited because of the unavailability of good distance estimates.”
PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURES IN OPHIUCHUS. II. EXTENSION TO FAINTER SOURCES (2010, methodology): “Moreover, the central star is optically visible (Wilking et al. 2005) and the infrared SED shape is incompatible with a substantial envelope (Bontemps et al. 2001; Evans et al. 2003; Barsony et al. 2005).”