Context :

Aims : We report the investigation results of the structure and content of a molecular cloud surrounding the source IRAS 05168+3634 ( also known as Mol 9 ) .

Methods : We present a photometric analysis using the data of J , H , K UKIDSS , [ 3.6 ] , [ 4.5 ] \mu m Spitzer -IRAC and 3.4 , 4.6 , 12 , 22 \mu m WISE databases .
A multi-color criteria was used to identify the candidates of young stellar objects ( YSOs ) in the molecular cloud ; in addition to IRAS 05168+3634 , there are four IRAS sources embedded in the same molecular cloud .
Color-magnitude diagrams and the K luminosity function ( KLF ) were used to determine the basic parameters of stellar objects ( spectral classes , masses , ages ) .
To study the YSOs with longer wavelength photometry the radiative transfer models were used .

Results : Based on color-color and color-magnitude diagrams , we identified a rich population of embedded YSO candidates with infrared excess ( Class 0/I and Class II ) and their characteristics in a quite large molecular cloud located in a region of 24 arcmin radius .
The molecular cloud includes 240 candidates of YSOs within the radii of subregions around five IRAS sources .
The local distribution of identified YSOs in the molecular cloud frequently shows elongation and subclustering .
The observed young subregions and parental molecular cloud morphologies are similar , especially when only the youngest Class I/0 sources are considered .
The color-magnitude diagrams of the subregions suggest a very young stellar population .
We construct the KLF of the subregions except for the IRAS 05162+3639 region ) and it shows unusually low values for \alpha slope : 0.12–0.21 .
According to the values of the slopes of the KLFs , the age of the subregions can be estimated at 0.1–3 Myr .
The spectral energy distributions ( SEDs ) are constructed for 45 Class I and 75 Class II evolutionary stage YSOs and the received parameters of these YSOs are well correlated with the results obtained by other methods .

Conclusions :