VRIJHK photometry of IRAS 09149-4743 region

Understanding the role of interstellar magnetic fields and studying the newborn stellar population is crucial to building a consistent picture of the physical processes acting on this kind of environment. We carried out a detailed study of the interstellar polarization toward RCW41 with data from an optical and near-infrared polarimetric survey.

Additionally, deep near-infrared images from the 3.5 meter New Technology Telescope were used to study the photometric properties of the embedded young stellar cluster, revealing several YSO candidates. By using a set of pre-main-sequence isochrones, a mean cluster age in the range 2.5-5.0 million years was determined, and evidence of sequential star formation was revealed. An abrupt decrease in R-band polarization degree was noticed toward the central ionized area, probably due to low grain alignment efficiency caused by the turbulent environment and/or the weak intensity of magnetic fields.