A Census of the Taurus Star-forming Region and Neighboring Associations with Gaia*

I have used high-precision photometry and astrometry from the third data release of Gaia to perform a survey for members of the Taurus star-forming region and young associations in its vicinity. This work has produced a new catalog of 532 adopted members of Taurus, which has only minor changes relative to the previous catalog from Esplin & Luhman. I have used the Gaia astrometry to divide the Taurus members into 13 groups that have distinct kinematics. Meanwhile, I have identified 1378 candidate members of seven associations near Taurus. All of these associations have histograms of spectral types that peak near M5 (similar to 0.15 M (circle dot)), resembling other young populations in the solar neighborhood. For the Taurus groups and neighboring associations, I have estimated ages from their sequences of low-mass stars in Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams. Most of the Taurus groups have median ages of similar to 1-3 Myr, while the associations have ages ranging from 13 to 56 Myr. I have used mid-infrared photometry from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to search for excess emission from circumstellar disks among the candidate members of the associations. Disks are detected for 51 stars, 20 of which are reported for the first time in this work. Some recent studies have proposed that samples of older stars (greater than or similar to 10 Myr) found in the vicinity of Taurus represent a distributed population that is associated with the Taurus cloud complex. However, I find that most of those stars have kinematics that are inconsistent with any relationship with Taurus.

Automated summary

Using high-precision photometry and astrometry data from Gaia, this study conducted a survey on the Taurus star-forming region and its neighboring young associations, resulting in a new catalog of 532 adopted members of Taurus and the identification of 1378 candidate members of nearby associations. The Taurus members were divided into 13 groups based on distinct kinematics, and the ages of the groups and associations were estimated using low-mass stars in Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams and ranged from 1-3 Myr for Taurus groups to 13-56 Myr for associations. Additionally, 51 stars with circumstellar disks were detected using mid-infrared photometry. Contrary to previous studies, the kinematics of older stars found near Taurus does not suggest a direct association with Taurus.