Related papers: Mapping dust column density in dark clouds by usin…
(abridged) We correlated near-infrared stellar H-Ks colour excesses of background stars from NTT/SOFI with the far-IR optical depth map, tauFIR, derived from Herschel 160, 250, 350, and 500 um data. The Herschel maps were also used to…
[Abridged] The giant molecular clouds (GMCs) of external galaxies can be mapped with sub-arcsecond resolution using multiband observations in the near-infrared. However, the interpretation of the observed features, and their transformation…
Characterizing the structure of the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) in three dimensions is of high importance for accurate modeling of dust emission as a foreground to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). At high Galactic latitude,…
Neutral hydrogen (HI) emission closely traces the dust column density at high Galactic latitudes and is thus a powerful tool for predicting dust extinction. However, the relation between HI column density $N_{\rm HI}$ and high-latitude dust…
Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are cold and dense reservoirs of gas potentially available to form stars. Many of these clouds are likely to be pristine structures representing the initial conditions for star formation. The study presented…
Aims: We aim to develop a method to determine distances to molecular clouds using JHK near-infrared photometry. Methods: The method is based on a technique that aids spectral classification of stars lying towards the fields containing the…
Measuring the mass distribution of infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) over the wide dynamic range of their column densities is a fundamental obstacle in determining the initial conditions of high-mass star formation and star cluster formation. We…
Observations have shown that the optical colors of Galactic cirrus clouds differ significantly from those of extragalactic sources; thus, they can be used to distinguish Galactic cirrus from extragalactic low surface brightness (LSB)…
We have created a map of the large-scale infrared surface brightness in excess of that associated with the atomic interstellar medium, using region-by-region correlations between the far-infrared and 21-cm line surface brightness. Our study…
Dust has long been identified as a barrier to measuring inherent galaxy properties. However, the link between dust and attenuation is not straightforward and depends on both the amount of dust and its distribution. Herschel imaging of…
The submillimeter opacity of dust in the diffuse Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) has been quantified using a pixel-by-pixel correlation of images of continuum emission with a proxy for column density. We used three BLAST bands at 250,…
The optical surface brightness of dark nebulae is mainly due to scattering of integrated starlight by classical dust grains. It contains information on the impinging interstellar radiation field, cloud structure, and grain scattering…
Investigating the chemical complexity of the interstellar medium (ISM) is key for understanding its physical nature and evolution. In this work, we study parsec-scale interstellar dust clouds in the neutral ISM of the Milky Way using two…
Within the project Galactic Cold Cores we are carrying out Herschel photometric observations of cold interstellar clouds detected with the Planck satellite. The three fields observed as part of the Herschel science demonstration phase (SDP)…
We report near-infrared (IR) observations of high Galactic latitude clouds to investigate diffuse Galactic light (DGL), which is starlight scattered by interstellar dust grains. The observations were performed at $1.1$ and $1.6\,\rm{\mu m}$…
We constrain the light extinction properties of Milky Way dust. We investigated the correlations between dust column density as inferred from infrared data and the observed colours of celestial objects at cosmological distances with low…
We present new deep near-infrared images of dark clouds in the Perseus molecular complex. These images show beautiful extended emission which we model as scattered ambient starlight and name ``cloudshine''. The brightness and color…
Context: Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) harbor progenitors of high-mass stars. Little is known of the parental molecular clouds of the IRDCs. Aims: We demonstrate the feasibility of the near-infrared (NIR) dust extinction mapping in tracing…
We study an undocumented large translucent cloud, detected by means of its enhanced radiation on the SHASSA (Southern H-Alpha Sky Survey Atlas) survey. We consider whether its excess surface brightness can be explained by light scattered…
Theoretical arguments suggest that dust grains should grow in the dense cold parts of molecular clouds. Evidence of larger grains has so far been gathered in near/mid infrared extinction and millimeter observations. Interpreting the data…