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Research Areas

MYStIX, SFiNCs, MOXC & Missing Link projects
Understanding young stars and their environments

MYStIX (Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-ray) is a project to synthesize multi-wavelength photometric data on 20 star forming regions within d<4 kpc to obtain new censuses of cluster stars and images of nebular emission. SFiNCs (Star Formation in Nearby Clouds) extends the sample to 22 smaller star forming regions within d<1kpc, MOXC (Massive Star-forming Regions Omnibus X-ray Catalog) extends the X-ray survey to d<6 kpc, and Missing Link extends the survey to stellar ages 5-20 Myr.  The latest effort is a 2 million-second ultradeep exposure of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Dor) in the Large Magellanic Cloud; it is the richest star formation region in the Local Group of galaxies.  

Sophisticated data analysis techniques are developed to find identify young stars via X-ray and astrometric properties, discriminate clusters of stars of different sizes and shapes, estimate stellar ages from X-ray and infrared photometry, map faint diffuse X-ray emission from hot plasma, and identify powerful flare events. The central datasets are from Chandra ACIS, UKIRT UKIDSS, 2MASS, Spitzer IRAC, and Gaia surveys. By combining infrared, X-ray and astrometric selected cluster members, both disk-bearing (Class I and II) and disk-free (Class III) young stars are identified. Altogether, over 60,000 young stars are identified.

The science goals are to improve our understanding of clustered star formation, early cluster dynamics, OB star feedback processes, triggered star formation, star formation histories of molecular clouds, pre-main sequence magnetic activity, survivability of protoplanetary disks, and the origin of the Galactic hot interstellar medium. Another goal is to quantify the effects of stellar flares on protoplanetary disks and, when those disks are photoevaporated, on the revealed young planetary atmospheres.   We study the astrophysics of pre-main sequence flares -- superflares and megaflares that are orders of magnitude stronger and more frequent than solar flares.  We examine the evolution of stellar magnetic dynamos from the earliest phases of evolution onto the main sequence.  

Most recently we joined a large collaboration that studies the chemistry and mineralogy of protoplanetary disks in these rich stellar clusters where massive OB stars intensely irradiate the disks with ultraviolet radiation.  This effort uses NASA James Webb Space Telescope.  

This Web site provides to the public papers, electronic sources tables, and selected presentations from the MYStIX,  SFiNCs, MOXC and Missing Link projects and related projects.  

Overview of the Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-Ray (MYStIX) Project 2013, (Feigelson, Townsley, Broos, Busk, Getman, King, Kuhn, Naylor, Pobich, Baddeley, Bate, Indebetouw, Luhman, McCaughrean, Pittard, Pudritz, Sills, Song, Wadsley)

The Spatial Structure of Young Stellar Clusters. I. Subclusters, 2014  (Kuhn, Getman, Feigelson, Baddeley, Townsley, Broos, Sills, Bate, Povich, Luhman, Busk, Naylor, King, Song)

Age Gradients in Stellar Populations of Massive Star Forming Regions Based on a New Stellar Chronometer, 2014 (Getman, Feigelson, Kuhn, Broos, Townsley, Naylor, Povich, Luhman, Garmire)

Core-Halo Age Gradients and Star Formation in the Orion Nebula and NGC 2024 Young Star Clusters, 2014 (Getman, Feigelson, Kuhn)

The Spatial Structure of Young Stellar Clusters. II. Total Young Stellar Populations, 2015 (Kuhn, Getman, Feigelson)

The Spatial Structure of Young Stellar Clusters. III. Physical Properties and Evolutionary States, 2015 (Kuhn, Feigelson, Getman, Sills, Bate, Borissova)

No Evidence for Protoplanetary Disk Destruction by OB Stars in the MYStIX Sample, 2015 (Richert, Feigelson, Getman, Kuhn)

Young Stellar Populations in MYStIX Star Forming Regions: Candidate Protostars, 2016 (Romine, Feigelson, Getman, Kuhn, Povich)

Candidate X-ray Emitting OB Stars in the MYStIX Massive Star-Forming Regions 2017 (Povich, Busk, Feigelson, Townsley, Kuhn)

Multiwavelength Studies of Young OB Clusters [MYStIX review article], in The Birth of Star Clusters (Stahler editor), 2018  (Feigelson)

Characterizing the X-Ray Emission of Intermediate-mass Pre-main-sequence Stars, 2021 (Nunez, Povich, Binder, Townsley, Broos)

The Effect of Molecular Cloud Properties on the Kinematics of Stars Formed in the Trifid Region, 2022, Kuhn, Hillenbrand, Feigelson, Fowler, Getman, Broos, Povich, Gromadzki, 

Star Formation in Nearby Clouds (SFiNCs). I. X-ray and Infrared Source Catalogs and Membership, 2017 (Getman, Broos, Kuhn, Feigelson, Richert, Ota, Bate, Garmire)

Young star clusters in nearby molecular clouds,  2018 (Getman, Kuhn, Feigelson, Broos, Bate, Garmire)

The Young Star Cluster NGC 6231: Stellar Population,  2017 (Kuhn, Medina, Getman, Feigelson, Gromadzki, Borissova, Kurtev)
 
The Young Star Cluster NGC 6231: Structure, Formation and Fate,  2017 (Kuhn, Getman, Feigelson, Sills, Gromadzki, Medina, Borissova, Kurtev)

Intracluster age gradients in numerous young stellar clusters, 2018 (Getman, Feigelson, Kuhm, Bate, Broos, Garmire)

Circumstellar disk lifetimes in numerous Galactic young stellar clusters,  2018  (Richert, Getman, Feigelson, Kuhn, Broos, Povich, Bate, Garmire)

The duration of star formation in Galactic giant molecular clouds. I. The Great Nebula in Carina, 2019, (Povich, Maldonado, Haze Nunez, Robitaille)

IRAS 09002-4732: A Laboratory for the Formation of Rich Stellar Clusters, 2019 (Getman, Feigelson, Kuhn, Broos, Garmire)  

 

The Massive Star-Forming Regions Omnibus X-ray Catalog, 2014 (Townsley, Broos, Garmire, Bouwman, Povich, Feigelson, Getman, Kuhn)

The Massive Star-Forming Regions Omnibus X-ray Catalog, 2018  (Townsley, Broos, Garmire, Anderson, Feigelson, Naylor, Povich)

The Massive Star-forming Regions Omnibus X-ray Catalog, Third Installment", 2019 (Townsley, Broos, Garmire,  Povich)

Overview of the Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-ray (MYStIX) Project, 2013  (Feigelson, Townsley, Broos, Busk, Getman, King, Kuhn, Naylor, Povich, Baddeley, Bate, Indebetouw, Luhman, McCaughrean, Pittard, Pudritz, Sills, Song & Wadsley)

A Massive Young Stellar Complexes Study in the Infrared and X-ray: X-ray Sources in Ten Star Forming Regions, 2013  (Kuhn, Getman, Broos, Townsley & Feigelson)

The MYStIX Wide-Field Near Infrared Data: Optimal Photometry in Crowded Fields, 2013   (King, Naylor, Broos, Getman & Feigelson)

Massive Young Star-Forming Study in Infrared and X-rays: Mid-Infrared Observations and Catalogs, 2013  (Kuhn, Povich, Luhman, Getman, Busk, Feigelson)

Bayesian Matching for X-ray and Infrared Sources in the MYStIX Project, 2013   (Naylor, Broos & Feigelson)

The MYStIX InfraRed-Excess Source Catalog, 2013   (Povich, Kuhn, Getman, Feigelson, Busk, Broos, Townsley, King, Naylor)

Identifying Young Stars in the MYStIX Project, 2013  (Broos, Getman, Povich, Feigelson, Townsley, Naylor, Kuhn, King & Busk)

T-ReX: The Tarantula Revealed by X-Rays, 2024, (Townsley, Broos, Povich)

The Tarantula Massive Binary Monitoring. V. R 144: a wind eclipsing binary with a total mass ~140 M⊙, 2021, (Shenar, Sana, Marchant, Richardson, Moffat, Van Reeth, Barbá, Bowman, Broos, Crowther, Clark, de Koter, de Mink, Dsilva, Gräfener, Howarth, Langer, Mahy, Maíz Apellániz, Pollock, Schneider, Townsley, Vink)

X-ray properties of early-type stars in the Tarantula Nebula from T-ReX, 2022, (Crowther, Broos, Townsley, Pollock, Tehrani, Gagné, Marc)

Melnick 33Na: a very massive colliding-wind binary system in 30 Doradus , 2022, (Bestenlehner, Crowther, Broos, Pollock, Townsley)

Melnick 39 is a very massive intermediate-period, 2025, (Pollock, Crowther, Bestenlehner, Broos, Townsley)

Magnetic Activity-Rotation-Age-Mass Relations in Late pre-main-sequence Stars,, 2023, (Getman, Feigelson, Garmire)

Evolution of X-Ray Activity in <25 Myr Old Pre-main Stars, 2022, (Getman, Feigelson, Garmire, Broos, Preibisch, Airapetian>

X-Ray Superflares from Pre-main-sequence Stars: Flare Energetics and Frequency, 2021 (Getman, Feigelson)

X-Ray Superflares from Pre-main-sequence Stars: Flare Modeling,, 2021 (Getman, Feigelson, Garmire)

Multi-Observatory Research of Young Stellar Energetic Flares (MORYSEF): X-Ray-flare-related Phenomena and Multi-epoch Behavior, 2024, (Getman, Feigelson,  Waggoner, Cleeves, Forbrich, Ninan, Kochukhov,  Airapetian, Dzib, Law, Rab) 

Multi-observatory Study of Young Stellar Energetic Flares (MORYSEF): No Evidence for Abnormally Strong Stellar Magnetic Fields after Powerful X-Ray Flares, 2025 (Kochukhov, Ninan, Feigelson,  Airapetian, Waggoner, Cleeves, Forbrich, Dzib, Law,  Rab, Krolikowski)

XUE: Molecular Inventory in the Inner Region of an Extremely Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk, 2023, (Ramírez-Tannus, Bik, Cuijpers, Waters, Göppl,  Henning, Kamp, Preibisch, Getman, Chaparro,  Cuartas-Restrepo, de Koter, Feigelson, Grant,  Haworth, Hernández, Kuhn, Perotti, Povich, Reiter,  Roccatagliata, Sabbi, Tabone, Winter, McLeod, van Boekel, van Terwisga, Sierk)

 

XUE: Thermochemical Modeling Suggests a Compact and Gas-depleted Structure for a Distant, Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk, 2025, (Portilla-Revelo, Getman,  Ramírez-Tannus, Haworth, Waters, Bik, Feigelson,  Kamp, van Terwisga, Sierk, Frediani, Henning, Winter,  Roccatagliata, Preibisch, Sabbi, Zeidler, Kuhn) .