Protoclusters and subclusters

A hybrid JHKs - W1W2W3W4 high-spectral index ({alpha}) selection scheme was employed to identify (sub)clusters of class I/f candidate protostars (YSOs) in WISE observations (the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer). n>10^4^ candidate YSOs were detected owing to WISE's advantageous all-sky spatial coverage, and a subsample (n~200) of their heavily-obscured host (sub)clusters were correlated with the Avedisova (2002, Cat.

V/112) and Dias et al. (2002A&A...389..871D, Cat. B/ocl) catalogs of star-forming regions. Forthcoming observations from the VVV/UKIDSS surveys shall facilitate the detection of additional protostars and bolster efforts to delineate the Galactic plane, since the campaigns aim to secure deep JHKs photometry for a pertinent fraction of the WISE targets lacking 2MASS detections, and to provide improved data for YSOs near the limits of the 2MASS survey.