  We report the discovery of a small aggregate of young stars seen in
high-resolution, deep near-infrared ($JHK_S$) images towards IRAS 06345-3023 in
the outer Galaxy and well below the mid-plane of the Galactic disc. The group
of young stars is likely to be composed of low-mass stars, mostly Class I young
stellar objects. The stars are seen towards a molecular cloud whose CO map
peaks at the location of the IRAS source. The near-infrared images reveal,
additionally, the presence of nebular emission with rich morphological
features, including arcs in the vicinity of embedded stars, wisps and bright
rims of a butterfly-shaped dark cloud. The location of this molecular cloud as
a new star formation site well below the Galactic plane in the outer Galaxy
indicates that active star formation is taking place at vertical distances
larger than those typical of the (thin) disc.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics;Astrophysics of Galaxies