List of star-forming regions in the Local Group

This is a list of star-forming regions located in the Milky Way Galaxy and in the Local Group. Star formation occurs in molecular clouds which become unstable to gravitational collapse, and these complexes may contain clusters of young stars and regions of ionized gas called H II regions. Stars typically form in groups of many stars, rather than in isolation.^[1]

Composite image showing young stars in and around molecular cloud Cepheus B.

Galactic star-forming regions

Name	RA [deg]	Dec [deg]	l [deg]	b [deg]	Distance [pc]	Age [Myr]	Earliest SpTy	Number of Stars	Cloud Mass [Mo]
Corona Australis Molecular Cloud	287.368	-37.904			130
Rho Oph	247.025	-24.541	353.22	16.53	131
Taurus Molecular Cloud	070.25	+25.87	174.13	-13.45	140
Orion Nebula	83.8221	-5.3911	209.013	-19.382	415
W40	277.871	-2.090	28.791	+3.481	500 [2]	0.8 [3]	late-O [2]	520 [4][5]
RCW 36	134.7537	-43.0	265.0794	+1.4048	700
Vela Molecular Ridge	134.7537	-43.0	265.0794	+1.4048	700-1000
Cygnus X	307.5	41.0			1400
NGC 6334	260.212	-36.115	351.42	+0.64	1700
NGC 6357	261.62	-34.20	353.11	+0.65	1700
Eagle Nebula	274.700	-13.807	16.95	+0.793	1750
M17	275.196	-16.172	15.06	-0.69	2000
Carina Nebula	161.285	-59.868			2600
AFGL 2591	307.354	40.189	078.887	+0.709	3300 [6]		O9–O6 [7]
W43	281.885	-01.942	30.759	-0.019	6000
W49	287.582	+9.128	43.200	+0.000	11000[8]		O2-3.5If*[9]
Radcliffe wave[10]

Extragalactic star-forming regions

Name	RA [deg]	Dec [deg]	l [deg]	b [deg]	Distance [pc]	Age [Myr]	Earliest SpTy	Number of Stars	Cloud Mass [Mo]
30 Doradus	84.67665	-69.10093	279.4652	-31.6719	49,000

See also

• RCW Catalog – 1960s astronomical catalogue
• Sharpless catalog – Made of a list
• Gum catalog
• List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs