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Description
Near-infrared H- and K-band spectra are presented for 247 objects, selected from the Red MSX Source (RMS) survey as potential young stellar objects (YSOs). 195 (~80%) of the targets are YSOs, of which 131 are massive YSOs (L_BOL_>5x10^3^L_{sun}_, M>8M_{sun}_). This is the largest spectroscopic study of massive YSOs to date, providing a valuable resource for the study of massive star formation. In this paper, we present our exploratory analysis of the data. The YSOs observed have a wide range of embeddedness (2.7<A_V_<114), demonstrating that this study covers minimally obscured objects right through to very red, dusty sources. Almost all YSOs show some evidence for emission lines, though there is a wide variety of observed properties. The most commonly detected lines are Br{gamma}, H_2_, fluorescent FeII, CO bandhead, [FeII] and HeI 2-1 1S-1P, in order of frequency of occurrence. In total, ~40% of the YSOs display either fluorescent FeII 1.6878{mu}m or CO bandhead emission (or both), indicative of a circumstellar disc; however, no correlation of the strength of these lines with bolometric luminosity was found. We also find that ~60% of the sources exhibit [FeII] or H_2_ emission, indicating the presence of an outflow. Three quarters of all sources have Br{gamma} in emission. A good correlation with bolometric luminosity was observed for both the Br{gamma} and H_2_ emission line strengths, covering 1<L_BOL_<3.5x10^5^L_{sun}_. This suggests that the emission mechanism for these lines is the same for low-, intermediate- and high-mass YSOs, i.e. high-mass YSOs appear to resemble scaled-up versions of low-mass YSOs.
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