SOFIA Observations of Nearby, Dense Star-Forming Clusters

We conduct a SOFIA FORCAST survey of bright, nearby star-forming clusters. The survey is focused on cores with sources that saturate Spitzer at 24 microns and WISE at 22 microns. The Young Stellar Object (YSO) population of these regions is explored thanks to SOFIA’s high angular resolution at 11.1, 19.7, 31.5 and 37.1 microns. We find ~70 sources, and among them, ~16 were previously unidentified or misidentified by Spitzer or WISE due to saturation or lack of angular resolution: we provide the first far-IR fluxes for these bright and/or clustered sources. In addition to completing the SEDs for all of our YSO candidates, multiple known sources appear to be spatially extended at 31 and 37 microns, and often look point-like at lower wavelengths with WISE and Spitzer. We study the morphology of the dusty envelopes around these sources.