Proposal #464

I request time in one of the AAVSOnet Faint Star Monitor telescopes to obtain photometric data of LDN 1641 North, a cluster in the Orion constellation, a region consisting of several active star-forming sub-regions. There are some interesting dynamics going on in this deep sky object and a number of young stars shining on structures of the nebula present in and around this cluster. The L1641-N region is one of the well-studied, nearby star-forming regions (Allen, L. E. & Davis, C. J. 2008, Low Mass Star Formation in the Lynds 1641 Molecular Cloud, in Handbook of Star Forming Regions Vol. 1, eds. Bo Reipurth, Astro. Soc. of Pacific, p. 621-661). It lies just south of the clouds known as OMC-4 and OMC-5, making up a northern part of the L1641 molecular cloud, one of the several ∼ 104M⊙ molecular clouds contained within the Orion A giant molecular cloud complex. There follows some information on the target and its desired monitoring:
LDN 1641 North ICRS midpoint coords. J2000: R.A. 05 36 19.0 Dec. -06 22 12.
LDN 1641 North boundaries: R.A. 05:34:30 to 5:37:30; Dec. -7:00:00 to -05:30:00.
Magnitudes of the stellar objects in the area: above 11, up to 20.
Desired FOV: 10x10 to 20x20 arcmin.
Cadence: once/week.
Duration: 12 months, or 52 weekly images.
Filters: BVRI.
Exposure: I leave it to be decided by the AAVSOnet team, depending on the optics and camera to be chosen.
Motivation:
• By monitoring the selected target I will be collaborating with the HOYS initiative (Hunting Outbursting Young Stars), to which I have been invited by its coordinator, Dr. Dirk Froebrich (University of Kent, Dublin, Ireland), and contributing data to the AAVSO photometric database. The HOYS citizen science project works with amateur astronomers on long-term photometric monitoring of nearby young stellar clusters and star-forming regions visible from the Northern Hemisphere to find any occasional stellar outbursting or other interesting objects for detailed follow-up and for the study of star and planet formation processes.
• I will be learning about this young stellar object. I intend to join the YSO Section of the AAVSO along with the development of this project.