The Vela C ridge/RCW 36 column density maps. The units are in H₂    cm^-2. Left: map derived from the longest four Herschel wavebands with a resolution of 36′′, equivalent to that of the SPIRE 500 μm band. Right: map constructed using P-ArTéMiS and Herschel data, with resolution 11.5′′. Appendix A details how this map was created. The filament from which the radial density profile (Fig. 3) was determined (see Sect. 3.2) is as indicated by the black line, measured on the right map but, overlaid on the left figure for clarity.