We report on a multi-wavelength ( IR to cm ) and multi-resolution ( 1 mas to 20 arcsec ) exploration of high-mass star formation regions in the Galactic plane , at longitudes observable from the Southern Hemisphere .
Our source sample was originally identified through methanol masers in the Galactic plane , which exclusively trace high-mass star-forming regions .
( Sub ) millimetre continuum and molecular line observations were carried out with SEST/SIMBA , JCMT/SCUBA and ATNF/Mopra mm-wave telescopes and have allowed us to identify massive ( > 20 M _ { \odot } ) and luminous ( > 10 ^ { 3 } L _ { \odot } ) clumps in each star-forming region .
We have also constrained the SED with additional archival IR data , the physical conditions ( T _ { dust } , L , M ) and the chemical composition of each massive clump .
Several types of objects were characterised based on the L _ { submm } / L _ { bol } ratio , the dust temperature and the molecular line properties , ranging from class 0-like YSO clusters ( L _ { sub } / L _ { bol } \sim 1 \% , T = 30 K ) to hot molecular clumps ( L _ { sub } / L _ { bol } \sim 0.1 \% , T = 40 - 200 K ) .
Preliminary high-angular resolution observations for a subset of the sample with the ATNF/ATCA at 3 mm , the VLA at 15 , 22 and 43 GHz and Gemini in MIR have revealed that several ( proto ) stellar objects are embedded in the massive clumps : massive protostars , hot cores and hyper-compact HII regions .
We have thus identified protoclusters of massive YSOs , which are the precursors of the OB associations .
This sample of Southern Hemisphere star-forming regions will be extremely valuable for the scientific preparation of the ALMA and HSO observations .