On the Formation of Massive Stars

The birth process and (early) evolution of massive stars is still poorly understood. Heavy extinction hides their birthplaces from view and the short formation timescale limits the sample of objects to be studied. So far, our physical knowledge of massive YSOs has been derived from near-IR imaging and spectroscopy, revealing populations of young OB-type stars, some still surrounded by a disk, others apparently 'normal' main sequence stars powering H II regions. The most important spectral features of OB-type stars are, however, located in the UV and optical range. With the new optical/near-infrared spectrograph X-shooter on the ESO Very Large Telescope it is possible to extend the spectral coverage of these massive YSOs into the optical range. Our first results are very promising: the discovery of a jet demonstrates that one of our mYSOs is still actively accreting. Furthermore, the first firm spectral classification of another mYSO results in the precise location on a pre-main-sequence track.