Rotation in the Lagoon Nebula with K2
Abstract
A low-mass star's rotation rate drives its magnetic field, and in the case of young stars, also affects accretion and planetary formation. Observations of the rotation rates of young stars help constrain models of star and planet formation. We present rotation rates from K2 observations of stars in the ~1-2 Myr Lagoon Nebula, one of the youngest clusters with space-based rotation rates available. From 414 light curves we obtain reliable rotation periods for 325 stars; 124 of them are disk-bearing and 201 are disk-free. This constitutes a significant increase in the collection of K2 rotation rates available for ~1-5 Myr stars. The overall distribution is broadly consistent with expectations, in that the slowest rotators are mid-K and both lower and higher masses are on average faster rotating. There is weak evidence that disked stars rotate more slowly. There are a few complex periodic variables, but they appear to be surprisingly high mass compared to prior known examples of this kind of object.
Related
- SDSS-V LVM: Mapping of plasma temperatures in the Lagoon Nebula reveals the origin of long-standing chemical abundance discrepancies
- Gaia DR3 Reveals the Kinematics of Young Stellar Objects in the Carina Nebula: Peripheral Expansion and Central Rotation
- Low-frequency spectra and scattering of pulsars towards the Gum Nebula with the MWA
- Intermediate- and high-resolution optical spectroscopy on the nascent planetary nebula Vy 2-2: Evidence of binary-star evolution
- An extended red wing of the 5797 Å diffuse interstellar band in the Red Rectangle nebula
BibTeX
@misc{rebull2026rotation,
title = {{Rotation in the Lagoon Nebula with K2}},
author = {L. M. Rebull and A. M. Cody and L. Venuti and S. Thanvantri and A. Thanvantri},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.29006},
eprint = {2610.29006},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29006},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Rotation in the Lagoon Nebula with K2
AU - L. M. Rebull
AU - A. M. Cody
AU - L. Venuti
AU - S. Thanvantri
AU - A. Thanvantri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.29006
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29006
AB - A low-mass star's rotation rate drives its magnetic field, and in the case of young stars, also affects accretion and planetary formation. Observations of the rotation rates of young stars help constrain models of star and planet formation. We present rotation rates from K2 observations of stars in the ~1-2 Myr Lagoon Nebula, one of the youngest clusters with space-based rotation rates available. From 414 light curves we obtain reliable rotation periods for 325 stars; 124 of them are disk-bearing and 201 are disk-free. This constitutes a significant increase in the collection of K2 rotation rates available for ~1-5 Myr stars. The overall distribution is broadly consistent with expectations, in that the slowest rotators are mid-K and both lower and higher masses are on average faster rotating. There is weak evidence that disked stars rotate more slowly. There are a few complex periodic variables, but they appear to be surprisingly high mass compared to prior known examples of this kind of object.
ER -