Abstract
Infrared images of the dark cloud core B59 were obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the "Cores to Disks" Legacy Science project. Photometry from 3.6-70 μm indicates at least 20 candidate low-mass young stars near the core, more than doubling the previously known population. Out of this group, 13 are located within ~0.1 pc in projection of the molecular gas peak, where a new embedded source is detected. Spectral energy distributions span the range from small excesses above photospheric levels to rising in the mid-infrared. One other embedded object, probably associated with the millimeter source B59-MMS1, with a bolometric luminosity Lbol ~ 2 L☉, has extended structure at 3.6 and 4.5 μm, possibly tracing the edges of an outflow cavity. The measured extinction through the central part of the core is AV ≳ 45 mag. The B59 core is producing young stars with a high efficiency.
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