Mapping of the extinction in Giant Molecular Clouds using optical star counts
| dc.creator | Cambresy, L. | |
| dc.date | 1999-03-10 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T07:47:24Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T07:47:24Z | |
| dc.description | This paper presents large scale extinction maps of most nearby Giant Molecular Clouds of the Galaxy (Lupus, rho-Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Coalsack, Taurus, Chamaeleon, Musca, Corona Australis, Serpens, IC 5146, Vela, Orion, Monoceros R1 and R2, Rosette, Carina) derived from a star count method using an adaptive grid and a wavelet decomposition applied to the optical data provided by the USNO-Precision Measuring Machine. The distribution of the extinction in the clouds leads to estimate their total individual masses M and their maximum of extinction. I show that the relation between the mass contained within an iso-extinction contour and the extinction is similar from cloud to cloud and allows the extrapolation of the maximum of extinction in the range 5.7 to 25.5 magnitudes. I found that about half of the mass is contained in regions where the visual extinction is smaller than 1 magnitude. The star count method used on large scale (about 250 square degrees) is a powerful and relatively straightforward method to estimate the mass of molecular complexes. A systematic study of the all sky would lead to discover new clouds as I did in the Lupus complex for which I found a sixth cloud of about 10^4 solar masses. | |
| dc.description | 8 pages, 1 Postscript figure, 12 Gif figures, accepted in A&A | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9903149 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9903149 | |
| dc.identifier | Astron.Astrophys. 345 (1999) 965-976 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/124157 | |
| dc.subject | Astrophysics | |
| dc.title | Mapping of the extinction in Giant Molecular Clouds using optical star counts | |
| dc.type | text |