The Distances to Molecular Clouds at High Galactic Latitudes based on GAIA DR2

Abstract

We report the distances of molecular clouds at high Galactic latitudes (|b|>10${}^{\circ }$) derived from parallax and G band extinction (A${}_{\mathrm{G}}$) measurements in the second Gaia data release, Gaia DR2. Aided by Bayesian analyses, we determined distances by identifying the breakpoint in the extinction A${}_{\mathrm{G}}$ towards molecular clouds and using the extinction A${}_{\mathrm{G}}$ of Gaia stars around molecular clouds to confirm the breakpoint. We use nearby star-forming regions, such as Orion, Taurus, Cepheus, and Perseus, whose distances are well-known to examine the reliability of our method. By comparing with previous results, we found that the molecular cloud distances derived from this method are reliable. The systematic error in the distances is approximately 5%. In total, 52 molecular clouds have their distances well determined, most of which are at high Galactic latitudes, and we provide reliable distances for 13 molecular clouds for the first time.

Accepted by A&A. 13 pages, 9 figures

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• A 3D view of the Taurus star-forming region by Gaia and Herschel: multiple populations related to the filamentary molecular cloud
• An initial overview of the extent and structure of recent star formation within the Serpens Molecular Cloud using Gaia Data Release 2
• Star-Gas Surface Density Correlations in Twelve Nearby Molecular Clouds I: Data Collection and Star-Sampled Analysis
• Distances and statistics of local molecular clouds in the first Galactic quadrant
• Distances to molecular clouds in the second Galactic quadrant
• Local Molecular Gas toward the Aquila Rift Region
• The Extinction and Distance of the MBM Molecular Clouds at High Galactic Latitude
• The Transition from Diffuse Molecular Gas to Molecular Cloud Material in Taurus