Abstract

We report the discovery of new pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in the Lagoon Nebula (M8) at a distance of 1.25 kpc, based on intermediate-resolution spectra obtained with the Boiler & Chivens spectrograph at the 6.5-m Magellan I Telescope (Las Campanas Observatory, Chile). According to the spectral types, the presence of emission lines and the lithium λ 6708 absorption line, we are able to identify 27 classical T Tauri stars, seven weak-lined T Tauri stars and three PMS emission objects with spectral type G, which we include in a separate stellar class denominated 'PMS Fe/Ge class'. Using near-infrared photometry either from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey or from our own previous work, we derive effective temperatures and luminosities for these stars and locate them in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, in order to estimate their masses and ages. We find that almost all of our sample stars are younger than 3 × 106 yr and span over a range of masses between 0.8 and 2.5 M⊙. A cross-correlation between our spectroscopic data and the X-ray sources detected with the Chandra ACIS instrument is also presented. © 2006 RAS.