A large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distances within 4 kpc of the Galactic disk

Abstract

We present a large, homogeneous catalogue of molecular clouds within 4 kpc from the Sun at low Galactic latitudes ($|b|$ $<$ 10\degr) with unprecedented accurate distance determinations. Based on the three-dimensional dust reddening map and estimates of colour excesses and distances of over 32 million stars presented in Chen et al, we have identified 567 dust/molecular clouds with a hierarchical structure identification method and obtained their distance estimates by a dust model fitting algorithm. The typical distance uncertainty is less than 5 per cent. As far as we know, this is the first large catalogue of molecular clouds in the Galactic plane with distances derived in a direct manner. The clouds are seen to lie along the Sagittarius, Local and Perseus Arms. In addition to the known structures, we propose the existence of a possible {\it spur}, with a pitch angle of about 34\degr, connecting the Local and the Sagittarius Arms in the fourth quadrant. We have also derived the physical properties of those molecular clouds. The distribution of cloud properties in different parameter spaces agrees grossly with the previous results. Our cloud sample is an ideal starting point to study the concentration of dust and gas in the solar vicinity and their star formation activities.

11 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS in press

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Updated Gaia-2MASS 3D maps of Galactic interstellar dust
• On the Three-Dimensional Structure of Local Molecular Clouds
• Overview of the LAMOST survey in the first decade
• The Mass-Size Relation and the Constancy of GMC Surface Densities in the Milky Way
• Three-Dimensional Distribution of the Interstellar Dust in the Milky Way
• ALMA-IRDC: Dense gas mass distribution from cloud to core scales
• The spiral structure in the Solar neighborhood
• Distances to molecular clouds in the second Galactic quadrant
• The Extinction and Distance of the MBM Molecular Clouds at High Galactic Latitude
• Discovery of a coherent, wave-like velocity pattern for the Radcliffe Wave
• A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky
• The distances to molecular clouds in the fourth Galactic quadrant
• The distances of 61 PGCCs in the Second Galactic Quadrant
• Systematic Investigation of Dust and Gaseous CO in 12 Nearby Molecular Clouds