Abstract

Young associations hold a star formation record that persists for missions of years, revealing the progression of star formation long after the dispersal of the natal cloud. Through the SPYGLASS program, I am expanding this record by mapping the extensive and often poorly characterized network of clusters and associations in the solar neighborhood, which trace the initiation, progression, and termination of local starforming events. This work has revealed dozens of new associations and subgroups, with the most recent update revealing 116 associations within 1 kpc. My methods provide a powerful framework for the study of star formation, enabling a large-scale view of population statistics and formation patterns while also revealing readily accessible young populations for region-level studies of star formation. New follow-up observations of individual populations provide regional age estimates and kinematic traceback, which allow the complete reconstruction of an association’s star formation history from beginning to end. My results in Cepheus Far North and the Austral Complex have demonstrated that even within closely intertwined populations, dynamical traceback often reveals multiple distinct nodes in which co-spatial star formation takes place. These nodes may represent the clearest discrete unit of star formation, making them potentially critical in understanding patterns of star formation on large scales and in complex environments. I am currently applying these traceback methods to the more complex environments of Sco-Cen and Cep-Her, with early results showing new starforming nodes, as well as large-scale patterns that demonstrate the importance of galactic context in understanding the initiation of star formation, even on the scale of individual associations. Upcoming projects will use my stellar census work and widespread ages across numerous populations to trace star formation on the scale of spiral arms, while also informing the mass distribution of associations, local star formation rate, and the search for young planets.