A NEAR-INFRARED SURVEY OF THE OMC2 REGION

We present an unbiased survey at 1.25-2.2 mum of a 0.025 sq. deg. regi on surrounding the core of Orion Molecular Cloud 2 (OMC-2). Analysis o f the source counts and colors indicates that the majority of the sour ces brighter than K=+13 are not field stars. They must be members of a young association or associations within the survey area. The K band luminosity function (corrected for field star contamination using mode l calculations) exhibits a drop in counts at magnitudes fainter than K =+13 (approximately 0.15L.)). This is most easily explained by assumin g that the association(s) are young. The lowest mass stars simply have not yet reached the main sequence. The distribution of colors across the region shows moderate correlation with molecular gas, but both red dened and unreddened stars are present along most lines of sight. Cons iderable reflection nebulosity is present in the region of the core cl uster of OMC2 itself. Of particular interest are the thin streamers em anating from the star J9, which may be the remnant of a bipolar nebula produced by the star in the recent past.