2MASS wide field extinction maps

IV. The Orion, Monoceros R2, Rosette, and Canis Major star forming regions

¹ University of Milan, Department of Physics, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
e-mail: marco.lombardi@unimi.it
² University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
³ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Mail Stop 72, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Received: 17 March 2011
Accepted: 18 July 2011

Abstract

We present a near-infrared extinction map of a large region (approximately 2200 deg²) covering the Orion, the Monoceros R2, the Rosette, and the Canis Major molecular clouds. We used robust and optimal methods to map the dust column density in the near-infrared (Nicer and Nicest) towards  ~19 million stars of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) point source catalog. Over the relevant regions of the field, we reached a 1-σ error of 0.03 mag in the K-band extinction with a resolution of 3arcmin. We measured the cloud distances by comparing the observed density of foreground stars with the prediction of galactic models, thus obtaining d_OrionA = (371 ± 10) pc, d_OrionB = (398 ± 12) pc, d_MonR2 = (905 ± 37) pc, d_Rosette = (1330 ± 48) pc, and d_CMa = (1150 ± 64) pc, values that compare very well with independent estimates.