Optical and infrared characterization of young stellar clusters associated with the Sh2-296 Nebula

An important case-study for star formation is the Canis Major R1/OB1 (CMa) young star association, which consists of hundreds of B-type stars, emission nebulae and embedded star clusters. This work aims to reduce and analyze images of three of these clusters associated with the main component in CMa, the Seagull Nebula (Sh2-296), focusing on the methodology used to detect and identify members, also covering the characterization of the gas around the clusters. Images of the three clusters were acquired by the SOAR telescope in the near infrared using the SPARTAN camera (J, H, K, Cont3, Brγ and H2 filters), and in the optical using the SAM module (R, Hα, [SII] and [OIII] filters). The IR images provide data on young stellar objects that are members of the cluster, characterized based on the color-color and color-magnitude diagrams presented. With optical data, we carried out astrometric calibration and studied the gas distribution through operations between images in different filters in the search for condensations and substructures of the gas around the cluster. The analysis of the spatial and kinematic distribution of gas aims to contribute to the understanding of the star formation context of CMa and its history of events, marked by possible supernova explosions. To characterize the stellar population, complementary data from public databases (WISE, 2MASS, Gaia DR3) are also used for comparison with the identified objects, in addition to visual extinction maps