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

M. GÓMEZ, S.J. KENYON

Tonantzintla

Congreso; IX Latin American Regional IAU Meeting, "Focal Points in Latin American Astronomy"; 1998

IAU

We report results of a near-infrared survey covering ~ 1deg^2 of the Chamaeleon I dark cloud aimed to characterize the pre-main sequence stellar population in the region and to derive an accurate near-infrared extinction law for the distribution of dust through the cloud. This survey is complete down to K<15.0, H<15.5 and J<16.0, roughly four magnitudes more sensitive than previous data. We detected ~50 new candidates members of the cloud. These candidates are among the less luminous and presumably less mass members of the cloud, probably down to the H burning limit.