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A Large Catalog of Accurate Distances to Molecular Clouds from PS1 Photometry

Schlafly, E.F.; Green, G.; Finkbeiner, D.P.; Rix, H.-W.; Bell, E.F.; Burgett, W.S.; Chambers, K.C.; Draper, P.W.; Hodapp, K.W.; Kaiser, N.; Magnier, E.A.; Martin, N.F.; Metcalfe, N.; Price, P.A.; Tonry, J.L.

A Large Catalog of Accurate Distances to Molecular Clouds from PS1 Photometry Thumbnail


Authors

E.F. Schlafly

G. Green

D.P. Finkbeiner

H.-W. Rix

E.F. Bell

W.S. Burgett

K.C. Chambers

K.W. Hodapp

N. Kaiser

E.A. Magnier

N.F. Martin

P.A. Price

J.L. Tonry



Abstract

Distance measurements to molecular clouds are important but are often made separately for each cloud of interest, employing very different data and techniques. We present a large, homogeneous catalog of distances to molecular clouds, most of which are of unprecedented accuracy. We determine distances using optical photometry of stars along lines of sight toward these clouds, obtained from PanSTARRS-1. We simultaneously infer the reddenings and distances to these stars, tracking the full probability distribution function using a technique presented in Green et al. We fit these star-by-star measurements using a simple dust screen model to find the distance to each cloud. We thus estimate the distances to almost all of the clouds in the Magnani et al. catalog, as well as many other well-studied clouds, including Orion, Perseus, Taurus, Cepheus, Polaris, California, and Monoceros R2, avoiding only the inner Galaxy. Typical statistical uncertainties in the distances are 5%, though the systematic uncertainty stemming from the quality of our stellar models is about 10%. The resulting catalog is the largest catalog of accurate, directly measured distances to molecular clouds. Our distance estimates are generally consistent with available distance estimates from the literature, though in some cases the literature estimates are off by a factor of more than two.

Citation

Schlafly, E., Green, G., Finkbeiner, D., Rix, H., Bell, E., Burgett, W., …Tonry, J. (2014). A Large Catalog of Accurate Distances to Molecular Clouds from PS1 Photometry. Astrophysical Journal, 786(1), Article 29. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/786/1/29

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 4, 2014
Publication Date May 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jun 16, 2015
Publicly Available Date Jun 30, 2015
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN 0004-637X
Electronic ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 786
Issue 1
Article Number 29
DOI https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/786/1/29
Keywords Dust, Extinction; ISM: clouds.

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Copyright Statement
© 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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