Issue |
A&A
Volume 585, January 2016
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A38 | |
Number of page(s) | 8 | |
Section | Interstellar and circumstellar matter | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201425112 | |
Published online | 15 December 2015 |
Allsky NICER and NICEST extinction maps based on the 2MASS near-infrared survey⋆
1
Department of Physics, PO Box 64, 00014 University of Helsinki,
Finland
e-mail:
mika.juvela@helsinki.fi
2
Institut UTINAM, CNRS UMR 6213, OSU THETA, Université de
Franche-Comté, 41 bis avenue de l’Observatoire, 25000
Besançon,
France
Received: 5 October 2014
Accepted: 22 October 2015
Context. Extinction remains one of the most reliable methods of measuring column density of nearby Galactic interstellar clouds. The current and ongoing near-infrared surveys enable the mapping of extinction over large sky areas.
Aims. We produce allsky extinction maps using the 2MASS near-infrared survey.
Methods. We use the NICER and NICEST methods to convert the near-infrared colour excesses to extinction estimates. The results are presented in Healpix format at the resolutions of 3.0, 4.5, and 12.0 arcmin.
Results. The main results of this study are the calculated J-band extinction maps. The comparison with earlier large-scale extinction mappings shows good correspondence but also demonstrates the presence of resolution-dependent bias. A large fraction of the bias can be corrected by using the NICEST method.
Conclusions. For individual regions, best extinction estimates are obtained by careful analysis of the local stellar population and the use of the highest resolution afforded by the stellar density. However, the uniform allsky maps should still be useful for many global studies and as the first step into the investigation of individual clouds.
Key words: ISM: clouds / infrared: ISM / submillimeter: ISM / dust, extinction / stars: formation
Final extinction maps are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/585/A38
© ESO, 2015
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.