APEX survey of southern high mass star forming regions

A systematic study of a large sample of sources, covering a wide range in galactocentric distances, masses and luminosities, is a fast and efficient way of obtaining a good overview of the different stages of high-mass star formation. With these goals in mind, we have started a survey of 40 color selected IRAS sources south of -20 degrees declination with the APEX telescope on Chajnantor, Chile. Our first APEX results already demonstrate that the selection criteria were successful, since some of the sources are very rich in molecular lines.