Issue |
A&A
Volume 375, Number 3, September 2001
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 999 - 1007 | |
Section | The Sun | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20010930 | |
Published online | 15 September 2001 |
Far-infrared dust opacity and visible extinction in the Polaris Flare
1
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
2
Observatoire de Paris, Département de Recherche Spatiale, 92195 Meudon Cedex, France
3
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris Sud, Bât. 121, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Corresponding author: L. Cambrésy, laurent@ipac.caltech.edu
Received:
16
June
2000
Accepted:
12
June
2001
We present an extinction map of the Polaris molecular cirrus cloud derived
from star counts and compare it with the Schlegel et al. ([CITE]) extinction map
derived from the far-infrared dust opacity.
We find that, within the Polaris cloud, the Schlegel et al. ([CITE])
AV values are a factor 2 to 3 higher than the star count values.
We propose that this discrepancy results from a difference in
between the diffuse atomic medium and the Polaris
cloud. We use the difference in spectral energy distribution, warm for
the diffuse atomic medium, cold for the Polaris cloud, to separate
their respective contribution to the line of sight integrated infrared
emission and find that the
of cold dust in
Polaris is on average 4 times higher than the Schlegel et al. ([CITE]) value for dust
in atomic cirrus. This change in dust property could be interpreted by a
growth of fluffy particles within low opacity molecular cirrus clouds such
as Polaris.
Our work suggests that variations in dust emissivity must be taken
into account to estimate AV from dust emission wherever cold
infrared emission is present (i.e. molecular clouds).
Key words: ISM: clouds / ISM: dust, extinction / ISM: individual objects: Polaris Flare / infrared: ISM
© ESO, 2001
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