Abstract
We use the reddening-free \(Q\) index \(Q_{u-g,g-r}=(u-g)-2.099(g-r)\) to photometrically identify OB-stars in the SkyMapper catalog to retrieve 474 509 candidate OB stars spanning more than half of the Galactic equator strip ( \(|b|<5^{\circ}\) ) with a gap in the longitude interval \(50<l<200\) . A comparison with previously identified OB-associations suggests the presence of potential new, hitherto unknown star groups in the southern sky. An analysis of the dependence of the height \(z\) above the Galactic midplane on \(Q\) -index confirms that our candidate OB stars reside predominantly in the thin disk.