A 2.2-MICRON SURVEY IN THE L1630 MOLECULAR CLOUD

A 2.2-mu-m survey of a significant portion of the L1630 molecular cloud was carried out using the NOAO infrared array camera on the Kitt Peak 1.3 m telescope. This survey is estimated to be complete to 13th magnitude at K, which corresponds to a main-sequence star of approximately 0.6 M.. Therefore this survey has provided a sensitive census of the young stellar objects within this molecular cloud. As a result, 912 sources having m(K) < 13.0 have been detected. We estimate that 50% of these sources are associated with the molecular cloud. These sources are not distributed uniformly throughout the surveyed region but rather appear grouped or clustered. In fact, four embedded infrared clusters were identified. These clusters contain at least 58% but possibly as much as 96% of the total number of sources associated with this molecular cloud suggesting that the dominant mode of star formation in this region is in clusters.