Deep Near-Infrared Imaging toward the Vela Molecular Ridge C. II. New Protostars and Embedded Clusters in Vela C

We present new candidates for protostars and embedded clusters detected in our deep near-infrared ( J , H , K S ) imaging survey of cloud C of the Vela Molecular Ridge (Vela C). We selected protostar candidates on the basis of positional coincidences with Midcourse Space Experiment ( MSX ) and/or IRAS sources and the slopes of their spectral energy distributions from 2 to 25 μm. For embedded clusters, we selected them on the basis of positional coincidence with MSX and/or IRAS sources and enhancement of stellar number densities. We identified 31 sources as protostar candidates and 5 clusters as embedded clusters; 28 protostar candidates and 3 embedded clusters were newly identified. Most of them are associated with the C 18 O clumps distributed throughout Vela C. We calculated the bolometric luminosities of the protostar candidates by integrating the observed fluxes from near- to far-infrared, and then estimated the mass range to be from 0.9 to 4.0 M ⊙ , assuming their ages at the birth line. There is a correlation between the number of members and the K S magnitude of the brightest star in the embedded clusters.