A new stellar nursery in the southern cross

The beta cephei variable beta Cru was the focus of a pointed observation using the PSPC aboard ROSAT during the AO4 observation cycle. The field contains the target star beta Cru, an x-ray binary 4U 1246-58, and several previously unidentified x-ray sources and diffuse emission with a complicated morphology. The data for the brightest 6 previously unidentified sources suggest an identification as T Tauri stars. We present the x-ray timing and spectral data for these candidate T Tauri stars along with data on their possible optical counterparts. From the anticorrelation of the observed x-ray flux with observations in the infrared utilizing archival IRAS data, the complicated diffuse emission structure appears to be the result of shadowing of the Galactic x-ray background by foreground molecular gas. (C) 1996 American Astronomical Society.