A New Galactic Extinction Map of the Cygnus Region

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal 2010-08, Vol.719 (1), p.873-880
• Main Authors: Kohyama, T, Shibai, H, Fukagawa, M, Hibi, Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; DATA ANALYSIS; DUSTS; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; RESOLUTION; SPATIAL RESOLUTION; TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/873

We have made a Galactic extinction map of the Cygnus region with 5' spatial resolution. The selected area is 80{sup 0} to 90{sup 0} in the Galactic longitude and -4{sup 0} to 8{sup 0} in the Galactic latitude. The intensity at 140 {mu}m is derived from the intensities at 60 and 100 {mu}m of the IRAS data using the tight correlation between 60, 100, and 140 {mu}m found in the Galactic plane. The dust temperature and optical depth are calculated with 5' resolution from the 140 and 100 {mu}m intensity, and A{sub V} is calculated from the optical depth. In the selected area, the mean dust temperature is 17 K, the minimum is 16 K, and the maximum is 30 K. The mean A{sub V} is 6.5 mag, the minimum is 0.5 mag, and the maximum is 11 mag. The dust temperature distribution shows significant spatial variation on smaller scales down to 5'. Because the present study can trace the 5'-scale spatial variation of the extinction, it has an advantage over the previous studies, such as the one by Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis, who used the COBE/DIRBE data to derive the dust temperature distribution with a spatial resolution of 1{sup 0}. The difference of A{sub V} between our map and Schlegel et al.'s is {+-} 3 mag. A new extinction map of the entire sky can be produced by applying the present method.