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A&A 425, L1-L4 (2004)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:200400046
Letter
Millimeter dust emission from an SMC cold molecular cloud
M. Rubio1, F. Boulanger2, F. Rantakyro3, 1 and A. Contursi41 Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 36-D, Santiago
e-mail: mrubio@das.uchile.cl
2 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Bât. 121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
3 European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
4 Max-Planck-Institute fur Extraterrestische Physik (MPE), Posfach 1312, 85741 Garching, Germany
(Received 13 April 2004 / Accepted 25 July 2004 )
Abstract
We presented SIMBA 1.2 mm continuum observations of
SMCB1-1 an SMC molecular cloud known to be distant from massive ionizing
stars. The gas mass derived from the SIMBA flux is a factor of ~10
higher than the virial mass previously reported from CO observations.
We propose an interpretation where the virial mass underestimates the
total mass because the CO emission comes from dense clumps which
do not trace the full cloud area and velocity distribution.
This work sets an important question for the understanding of star formation
in low metallicity gas. Do CO observations grossly underestimate the amount
of dense self gravitating clouds where stars can form?
Key words: ISM: molecular clouds -- ISM: dust -- ISM: individual object: LMC-SMC -- infrared: ISM: continuum
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