EPoS Contribution
EPoS Contribution
The Spitzer Legacy Survey of the Cygnus-X Region: Status and Results

Joseph Hora
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA
We describe the status and initial results from the Spitzer Legacy survey of the Cygnus-X region, a massive star formation complex containing the richest known concentration of massive protostars and the largest OB associations in the nearest 2 kpc. This unbiased survey of 24 sq degrees in Cygnus-X with the IRAC and MIPS instruments has the sensitivity to detect young stars to a limit of 0.5 Msun. With this survey we will 1) analyze the evolution of high mass protostars with a large and statistically robust sample at a single distance, 2) study the role of clustering in high mass star formation, 3) study low mass star formation in a massive molecular cloud complex dominated by the energetics of ~100 O-stars, 4) assess what fraction of all young low mass stars in the nearest 2 kpc are forming in this one massive complex, and 5) provide an unbiased survey of the region and produce a legacy data set which can be used in conjunction with future studies of this region (e.g., with Herschel and JWST). We are also using the IRS to obtain 5-40 micron spectra of a sample of massive stars that are forming in the Cygnus-X region. The selected sample contains sources with known IRAS/MSX sources, and infrared-quiet sources detected in the deeper Spitzer observations, thus spanning a range of mass and evolutionary stages which will allow us to probe with some of the best statistics available the earliest stages of massive protostars. We will also be able to examine the effect that these stars have on their surrounding through outflows and radiation.