A Near-Infrared Imaging Survey of the Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud

GÓMEZ, M. KENYON, S. J.

Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Congreso; Star formation from the small to the large scale. ESLAB symposium; 1999

European Space Agency (ESA)

We present preliminary results of a near-infrared imaging survey covering approximately 1 deg square of the Chamaeleon I cloud. This survey is complete down to K < 15.0, H < 16.0, and J < 16.5, roughly two magnitudes more sensitive than previous surveys. We detected about 100 new candidate members of the cloud with K > 12.0, based on their position on the near- infrared color-color magnitude diagram. Because of their low luminosities (K ~ 12-16, H-K > 0.5--1.5) these candidates may be very low mass members of the cloud, with masses close to or even below the H burning limit.