Young Stellar Objects in the Orion B Cloud

Wide-field near-infrared imaging surveys offer an excellent opportunity to obtain spatially complete samples of young stars in nearby star-forming regions. By studying their spatial distribution and individual properties, the global star formation characteristics of a region can be established. Near-infrared wide-field imaging observations of a significantly large area in the Orion Molecular Cloud B, obtained with the VISTA telescope on Cerro Paranal are presented. On the basis of photometric selection criteria, we have identified 186 candidate young stellar objects that are associated with the stellar clusters NGC 2068 and NGC 2071, and with the stellar group around HH24-26. Overall, Orion B shows a lot of similarities in its star formation characteristics with other Galactic star-forming regions: a star formation efficiency of a few percent, a stellar mass distribution very similar to that of the Orion Trapezium cluster, and a high observed fraction of circumstellar discs.