Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mar 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aj....125.1407n&link_type=abstract
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 125, Issue 3, pp. 1407-1417.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
20
Ism: Dust, Extinction, Infrared Radiation, Ism: Clouds, Ism: Individual (Lupus 3)
Scientific paper
We carried out deep imaging observations of the Lupus 3 dark cloud in near-infrared J, H, and Ks bands. An area of ~8'×8' was observed, which corresponds to a projected area of ~0.4×0.4 pc at the distance of the cloud, ~150 pc. Lupus 3 showed itself as a near-infrared nebula that has a surface brightness higher than the adjacent sky at all the three wavelengths. In a JHKs color composite image (blue, green, and red are assigned to J, H, and Ks, respectively), three dark red cores are surrounded by a blue halo. The surface brightness was measured with 5 σ limiting magnitudes of J=21.6, H=21.3, and Ks=20.6 mag arcsec-2. The appearance of the nebula depends on the wavelength. In the J band, dark cores are surrounded by a brighter halo, while in the Ks band, the dark cores of the J band are bright except for the central part of two of the cores. The appearance in the H band is intermediate between those of the J and Ks bands, having dark cores surrounded by local maxima of the surface brightness and decreased surface brightness farther out. The surface brightness is J=20.6, H=19.8, and Ks=19.4 mag arcsec-2 at the maximum in each band. Photometry of the point sources was done with 10 σ limiting magnitudes of J=20.1, H=18.8, and Ks=17.7. We constructed an extinction map of the background stars, using the H-K color of 1974 sources and the standard reddening law of Rieke & Lebofsky. The maximum value for the extinction is AV=47 mag. There are three local maxima of the extinction with AV>~30 mag, which we consider to be dense cores. Their positions agree with the cores identified with the surface brightness appearance. The surface brightness and its relationship with the extinction are understood in terms of scattering of starlight by dust. The values of the maximum surface brightness can be explained by scattering of starlight by dust in the cloud if we adopt a model of grain size distribution by Weingartner & Draine.
Kato Daisuke
Kawai Toshihide
Kurita Mikio
Nagashima Chie
Nagata Tetsuya
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