A search for star formation around the Galactic halo B-type star PHL 346 with the 2dF spectrograph

A preliminary search for stars that may have formed coevally with the apparently young halo B-type star PHL 346 has been performed with the 2dF multifibre spectrograph on the Anglo- Australian Telescope (AAT). Candidates were selected for spectroscopy from APM scans of B and R Schmidt plates centred on PHL 346. A total of 476 stars of spectral type A or F were found; radial velocity estimates and more accurate spectral type assignments narrowed the number of possible coeval candidates to 6 A-type and 14 F-type stars. A statistical analysis of these results using a comparison with a control field suggests that the number of A-type or F-type candidate stars around PHL 346 is not unexpected, and that they need not be associated with PHL 346. A number of ways to improve the project are suggested.