Degree of polarization vs. the polarization position angle of stars projected on BRC 17 (left panel) and BRC 18 (right panel). The histogram of the position angles is also shown. These values are obtained after subtracting the foreground interstellar component from the observed values. The solid black curves represent a fit to the histogram of the position angles using a single Gaussian model. BRC 17 is also fit with a multiple Gaussian model (solid blue), where decomposed Gaussians are shown in dashed blue, and the mean and standard deviation of the central Gaussian are marked.