Infrared dark cloud
Composite image showing young stars in and around molecular cloud Cepheus B.
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Infrared
Star formation
An infrared dark cloud (IRDC) is a cold, dense region of a giant molecular cloud. They can be seen in silhouette against the bright diffuse mid-infrared emission from the galactic plane.[1][2]
Discovery
Infrared dark clouds have only been recently discovered in 1996 using the ISO [3] and therefore are in need of further research.[4]
Importance
Astronomers believe that they represent the earliest stage in the formation of high-mass stars [5] and are therefore of great importance for understanding the star formation process as a whole.[6]
Statistics and Mass
See also
References
- ↑ http://web.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/carey/dark/dark.html
- ↑ http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~jt/irext/ms.pdf
- ↑ http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/homes/stein/EPoS/Onlinematerial/fuller_irdcs.pdf.gz
- ↑ "Searching for dark clouds in the outer galactic plane. I. A statistical approach for identifying extended red(dened) regions in 2MASS". Astronomy and Astrophysics 515: 51. 2010. arXiv:1005.4955. Bibcode:2010A&A...515A..51F. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200913000.
- ↑ http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/715/1/310
- ↑ http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/715/1/310
- ↑ http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~jt/irext/ms.pdf
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