Foreground Extinction to Extended Celestial Objects -- I. New Extinction Maps

We present new three-dimensional (3D) interstellar extinctionmaps in the V and Gaia G filterswithin 2 kpc of the Sun, a 3D differential extinction (dust density) map along the line of sight in the samespace, a 3D map of variations in the ratio of the extinctions in the V and Gaia G filters within 800 pcof the Sun, and a 2D map of total Galactic extinction through the entire dust half-layer from the Sun toextragalactic space for Galactic latitudes |b| 13◦. The 3D maps have a transverse resolution from 3.6to 11.6 pc and a radial resolution of 50 pc. The 2D map has an angular resolution of 6.1 arcmin. Wehave produced these maps based on the Gaia DR3 parallaxes and Gaia, Pan-STARRS1, SkyMapper,2MASS, andWISE photometry for ∼ 100 million stars. We have paid special attention to the space within200 pc of the Sun and high Galactic latitudes as regions where the extinction estimates have had a largerelative uncertainty so far. Our maps estimate the extinction within the Galactic dust layer from the Sunto an extended object or through the entire dust half-layer from the Sun to extragalactic space with anaccuracy σ(AV) = 0.06 mag. This gives a high relative accuracy of extinction estimates even at highGalactic latitudes, where, according to our estimates, the median total Galactic extinction through theentire dust half-layer from the Sun to extragalactic objects is AV = 0.12 ± 0.06 mag. We have shown thatthe presented maps are among the best ones in data volume, space size, resolution, accuracy, and otherproperties.

Aims. Three-dimensional (3D) maps of Galactic interstellar dust are a tool for a wide range of uses. We aim to construct 3D maps of dust extinction in the Local Arm and surrounding regions. Methods. To do this, Gaia EDR3 photometric data were combined with 2MASS measurements to derive extinction towards stars with accurate photometry and relative uncertainties on EDR3 parallaxes of less than 20%. We applied our hierarchical inversion algorithm adapted to inhomogeneous spatial distributions of target stars to this catalogue of individual extinctions. Results. We present the updated 3D dust extinction distribution and provide an estimate of the error on integrated extinctions from the Sun to each area in the 3D map. The full computational area is similar to the one of the previous DR2 map, that is to say with a 6 × 6 × 0.8 kpc3 volume around the Sun. Due to the addition of fainter target stars, the volume in which the clouds can be reconstructed has increased. Due to the improved accuracy of the parallaxes and photometric data in EDR3, extinctions among neighbouring targets are more consistent, allowing one to reach an increased contrast in the dense areas, while cavity contours are more regular. We show several comparisons with recent results on dust and star distributions. The wavy pattern around the Plane of the dust concentrations is better seen and exists over large regions. Its mean vertical peak-to-peak amplitude is of the order of 300 pc; interestingly, it is similar to the vertical period of the spectacular snail-shaped stellar kinematical pattern discovered in Gaia data. Conclusions. The Gaia EDR3 catalogue allows for a significant improvement of the extinction maps to be made, both in extent and quality. The hierarchical technique confirms its efficiency in the inversion of massive datasets. Future comparisons between 3D maps of interstellar matter and stellar distributions may help to understand which mergers or internal perturbations have shaped the Galaxy within the first 3 kpc.

Context. Gaia parallaxes and photometric measurements open a three-dimensional (3D) era for the Milky Way, including its interstellar (IS) matter. Three-dimensional Galactic dust distributions are constructed in various ways, based on Gaia data and photometric or spectroscopic surveys. Aims. The assignment of radial motions to IS dust structures seen in 3D, or 3D kinetic tomography, would be a valuable tool allowing one to connect the structures to emission lines of the associated gas, which are now measured at increasingly higher spectral and angular resolutions, and rich in information on physical and chemical processes. To this end, one of the potential techniques is to establish a link between dust clouds and Doppler velocities of absorption lines imprinted in stellar spectra by the gas associated with the dust. This requires a relatively close correlation between the absorber column and the dust opacity. We have investigated the link between the strength of interstellar K I absorption and the opacity of the dust in front of stars in the Taurus area, and we have tested the feasibility of assigning velocities to 3D dust clouds on the basis of K I absorption data. Methods. We have obtained high spectral resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra of 58 early-type stars in the direction of the Taurus, Perseus, and California molecular clouds. We have developed a new, dual interstellar and telluric profile-fitting technique to extract the interstellar K I λλ 7665, 7699 Å absorption lines from stellar spectra and applied it to the new data and to archived spectra of 58 additional targets. In parallel, we have updated 3D dust maps reconstructed through the inversion of individual stellar light extinctions. To do so, we supplemented the catalog of extinction estimates based on Gaia and 2MASS photometry with recently published extinction catalogs based on stellar spectroscopic surveys. We used the 3D map and the set of velocity components seen in absorption to assign radial velocities to the dust clouds distributed along their paths in the most consistent way. Results. We illustrate our profile-fitting technique and present the K I velocity structure of the dense ISM along the paths to all targets. As a validation test of the dust map, we show comparisons between distances to several reconstructed clouds with recent distance assignments based on different techniques. Target star extinctions estimated by integration in the 3D map are compared with their K I 7699 Å absorptions and the degree of correlation is found comparable to the one between the same K I line and the total hydrogen column for stars distributed over the sky that are part of a published high resolution survey. We show images of the updated dust distribution in a series of vertical planes in the Galactic longitude interval 150–182.5° and our estimated assignments of radial velocities to the opaque regions. Most clearly defined K I absorptions may be assigned to a dense dust cloud between the Sun and the target star. It appeared relatively straightforward to find a velocity pattern consistent will all absorptions and ensuring coherence between adjacent lines of sight, at the exception of a few weak lines. We compare our results with recent determinations of the velocities of several clouds and find good agreement. These results demonstrate that the extinction-K I relationship is tight enough to allow one to link the radial velocity of the K I lines to the dust clouds seen in 3D and that their combination may be a valuable tool in building a 3D kinetic structure of the dense ISM. We discuss limitations and perspectives for this technique.

In the past few years, the extinction law has been measured in the infrared wavelengths for various molecular clouds and different laws have been obtained. In this paper we seek variations of the extinction law within the Trifid nebula region. Such variations would demonstrate a local dust evolution linked to variation of the environment parameters such as the density or the interstellar radiation field. The extinction values, A_lambda/A_V, are obtained using the 2MASS, UKIDSS and Spitzer/GLIMPSE surveys. The technique is to inter-calibrate color-excess maps from different wavelengths to derive the extinction law and to map the extinction in the Trifid region. We measured the extinction law at 3.6, 4.5, and 5.8 um and we found a transition at A_V ~ 20 mag. Below this threshold the extinction law is as expected from models for R_V=5.5 whereas above 20 mag of visual extinction, it is flatter. Using these results the color-excess maps are converted into a composite extinction map of the Trifid nebula at a spatial resolution of 1 arcmin. A tridimensional analysis along the line-of-sight allowed us to estimate a distance of 2.7 kpc for the Trifid. The comparison of the extinction with the 1.25 mm emission suggests the millimeter emissivity is enhanced in the dense condensations of the cloud. Our results suggest a dust transition at large extinction which has not been reported so far and dust emissivity variations.

Context. The properties of dust grains, in particular their size distribution, are expected to differ from the interstellar medium to the high-density regions within molecular clouds. Since the extinction at near-infrared wavelengths is caused by dust, the extinction law in cores should depart from that found in low-density environments if the dust grains have different properties. Aims. We explore methods to measure the near-infrared extinction law produced by dense material in molecular cloud cores from photometric data. Methods. Using controlled sets of synthetic and semi-synthetic data, we test several methods for linear regression applied to the specific problem of deriving the extinction law from photometric data. We cover the parameter space appropriate to this type of observations. Results. We find that many of the common linear-regression methods produce biased results when applied to the extinction law from photometric colors. We propose and validate a new method, LinES, as the most reliable for this effect. We explore the use of this method to detect whether or not the extinction law of a given reddened population has a break at some value of extinction.

Studies of the properties of the inner Galactic Bulge depend strongly on the assumptions about the interstellar extinction. Most of the extinction maps available in the literature lack the information about the distance. We combine the observations with the Besancon model of the Galaxy to investigate the variations of extinction along different lines of sight towards the inner Galactic bulge as a function of distance. In addition we study the variations in the extinction law in the Bulge. We construct color-magnitude diagrams with the following sets of colors: H-Ks and J-Ks from the VVV catalogue as well as Ks-[3.6], Ks-[4.5], Ks-[5.8] and Ks-[8.0] from GLIMPSE-II catalogue matched with 2MASS. Using the newly derived temperature-color relation for M giants that match better the observed color-magnitude diagrams we then use the distance-color relations to derive the extinction as a function of distance. The observed colors are shifted to match the intrinsic colors in the Besan\c{c}on model, as a function of distance, iteratively thereby creating an extinction map with three dimensions: two spatial and one distance dimension along each line of sight towards the bulge. Colour excess maps are presented at a resolution of 15' x 15' for 6 different combinations of colors, in distance bins of 1 kpc. The high resolution and depth of the photometry allows to derive extinction maps to 10 kpc distance and up to 35 magnitudes of extinction in Av (3.5 mag in Aks). Integrated maps show the same dust features and consistent values with the other 2D maps. Starting from the color excess between the observations and the model we investigate the extinction law in near-infrared and its variation along different lines of sight.

We compute the mid-infrared extinction law from 3.6-24 microns in three molecular clouds: Ophiuchus, Perseus, and Serpens, by combining data from the Cores to Disks Spitzer Legacy Science program with deep JHKs imaging. Using a new technique, we are able to calculate the line-of-sight extinction law towards each background star in our fields. With these line-of-sight measurements, we create, for the first time, maps of the chi-squared deviation of the data from two extinction law models. Because our chi-squared maps have the same spatial resolution as our extinction maps, we can directly observe the changing extinction law as a function of the total column density. In the Spitzer IRAC bands, 3.6-8 microns, we see evidence for grain growth. Below $A_{K_s} = 0.5$, our extinction law is well-fit by the Weingartner & Draine (2001) $R_V = 3.1$ diffuse interstellar medium dust model. As the extinction increases, our law gradually flattens, and for $A_{K_s} >= 1$, the data are more consistent with the Weingartner & Draine $R_V = 5.5$ model that uses larger maximum dust grain sizes. At 24 microns, our extinction law is 2-4 times higher than the values predicted by theoretical dust models, but is more consistent with the observational results of Flaherty et al. (2007). Lastly, from our chi-squared maps we identify a region in Perseus where the IRAC extinction law is anomalously high considering its column density. A steeper near-infrared extinction law than the one we have assumed may partially explain the IRAC extinction law in this region.

Galactic interstellar extinction maps are powerful and necessary tools for Milky Way structure and stellar population analyses, particularly toward the heavily-reddened bulge and in the midplane. However, due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable extinction measures and distances for a large number of stars that are independent of these maps, tests of their accuracy and systematics have been limited. Our goal is to assess a variety of photometric stellar extinction estimates, including both 2D and 3D extinction maps, using independent extinction measures based on a large spectroscopic sample of stars towards the Milky Way bulge. We employ stellar atmospheric parameters derived from high-resolution $H$-band APOGEE spectra, combined with theoretical stellar isochrones, to calculate line-of-sight extinction and distances for a sample of more than 2400 giants towards the Milky Way bulge. We compare these extinction values to those predicted by individual near-IR and near+mid-IR stellar colors, 2D bulge extinction maps and 3D extinction maps. The long baseline, near+mid-IR stellar colors are, on average, the most accurate predictors of the APOGEE extinction estimates, and the 2D and 3D extinction maps derived from different stellar populations along different sightlines show varying degrees of reliability. We present the results of all of the comparisons and discuss reasons for the observed discrepancies. We also demonstrate how the particular stellar atmospheric models adopted can have a strong impact on this type of analysis, and discuss related caveats.

We present a three-dimensional (3D) extinction map of the southern sky. The map covers the SkyMapper Southern Survey (SMSS) area of ∼14,000 deg2 and has spatial resolutions between 6.′9 and 27′. Based on the multi-band photometry of SMSS, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer Survey, and the Gaia mission, we have estimated values of the r-band extinction for ∼19 million stars with the spectral energy distribution analysis. Together with the distances calculated from the Gaia data release 2 (DR2) parallaxes, we have constructed a 3D extinction map of the southern sky. By combining our 3D extinction map with those from the literature, we present an all-sky 3D extinction map, and use it to explore the 3D distribution of the Galactic dust grains. We use two different models, one consisting of a single disk and another of two disks, to fit the 3D distribution of the Galactic dust grains. The data is better fitted by a two-disk model, yielding smaller values of the Bayesian Information Criterion. The best-fit model has scale heights of 73 and 225 pc for the “thin” and “thick” dust disks, respectively.

Accurate astrometric and photometric measurements from Gaia have led to the construction of 3D dust extinction maps which can now be used for estimating the integrated extinctions of Galactic sources located within 5 kpc. These maps based on optical observations may not be reliable for use in the ultraviolet (UV) which is more sensitive to reddening. Past studies have focussed on studying UV extinction using main-sequence stars but lack comparison with 3D dust maps. White dwarfs with well-modelled hydrogen-dominated (DA) atmospheres provide an advantage over main-sequence stars affected by magnetic activity. In this work, we study the variation of UV extinction with 3D dust maps utilizing Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) observations of DA white dwarfs located within 300 pc. We used HST COS spectroscopic data of 76 sightlines to calculate the optical extinction from Si ii column densities and validate our results with the kinematic model predictions of the local interstellar medium. Also, we combined GALEX and Gaia photometric observations of 1158 DA white dwarfs to study UV reddening by comparing observed and modelled colour–colour relations. We calculated GALEX non-linearity corrections and derived reddening coefficients [$R(NUV-G)=6.52\pm 1.53$ and $R(FUV-G)=6.04\pm 2.41$] considering their variations with optical extinction ($\rm{A_{V}}\lt 0.1$ mag), and found them to be in good agreement with known extinction laws. HST analysis suggests a positive bias of 0.01–0.02 mag in the optical extinction from 3D maps depending on the Galactic latitude. These results independently confirm the validity of 3D dust maps to de-redden the optical and UV observations of white dwarfs.

Accurate interpretation of observations relies on the interstellar dust extinction law, which also serves as a powerful diagnostic for probing dust properties. In this study, we investigate the multiwavelength extinction law of the quiescent, starless molecular cloud Coalsack and explore its potential variation across different interstellar environments: the surrounding region, the nearby high Galactic latitude region, the inner dense region, and the inner diffuse region. Using a sample of 368,524 dwarf stars selected from Gaia DR3 as tracers, we establish the effective temperature T eff–intrinsic color relations to derive the intrinsic color indices and optical−mid-infrared (MIR) color excess (CE) for 20 bands. Linear fits to the CE–CE diagrams provide CE ratios, which are subsequently converted into relative extinction. The resulting extinction curves for different environments exhibit steep slopes in the near-infrared (NIR) and flat profiles in the MIR. In the optical–NIR range, the Coalsack extinction law is consistent with the R V = 3.1 of S. Wang & X. Chen and B. S. Hensley & B. T. Draine, while in the MIR, it follows the R V = 5.5 of J. C. Weingartner & B. T. Draine, similar to the results of active star-forming clouds. At an angular resolution of 1 . ′ 3 , our extinction map reveals fine cloud structures. No correlation is found between R V and E B,V for E B,V > 0.3 mag, implying a uniform optical extinction law in the Coalsack cloud. The derived average R V value is 3.24 ± 0.32.

Localization and 3D mapping are important tasks, for a humanoid robot to move in a complex human environment. In This work, we present a feature tracking based visual odometry system using stereo vision to achieve simultaneous 6D localization and 3D mapping. A camera position can be estimated from 3D environmental depth data and a previous 3D map, and used to incrementally update the 3D map. Visual odometry was employed to compute the view transformation relating a pair of views. Experimental results that estimate camera trajectory and build a 3D map are accurately obtained. The system is more accurate than typical dead-reckoning system such as gyro sensors.

Interstellar-dust extinction law is essential for interpreting observations. In this work, we investigate the ultraviolet (UV)–mid-infrared (IR) extinction law of the Taurus molecular cloud and its possible variations. We select 504,988 dwarf stars (4200 K ≤ T eff ≤ 8000 K) and 4757 giant stars (4200 K ≤ T eff ≤ 5200 K) based on the stellar parameters of Gaia DR3 as tracers. We establish the T eff–intrinsic color relations and determine the intrinsic color indices and color excesses for different types of stars. In the determination of color excess ratios (CERs), we analyze and correct the curvature of CERs and derive the UV–mid-IR CERs of 16 bands. We consider different effective wavelengths for different types of stars when converting CERs to relative extinction and obtain the extinction law with a better wavelength resolution. In addition, we analyze the possible regional variation of extinction law and derive the average extinction law of R V = 3.13 ± 0.32 for the Taurus molecular cloud. Only 0.9% of subregions have deviations >3σ, indicating limited regional variation in the extinction law. We also discuss the effect of Gaia T eff overestimation on the determination of the Taurus extinction law and find that the effect is negligible.

Many astronomical objects are surrounded by dusty environments. In such dusty objects, multiple scattering processes of photons by circumstellar (CS) dust grains can effectively alter extinction properties. In this paper, we systematically investigate the effects of multiple scattering on extinction laws for steady-emission sources surrounded by the dusty CS medium using a radiation transfer simulation based on the Monte Carlo technique. In particular, we focus on whether and how the extinction properties are affected by properties of CS dust grains by adopting various dust grain models. We confirm that behaviors of the (effective) extinction laws are highly dependent on the properties of CS grains, especially the total-to-selective extinction ratio R V , which characterizes the extinction law and can be either increased or decreased and compared with the case without multiple scattering. We find that the criterion for this behavior is given by a ratio of albedos in the B and V bands. We also find that either small silicate grains or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are necessary for realizing a low value of R V as often measured toward SNe Ia if the multiple scattering by CS dust is responsible for their non-standard extinction laws. Using the derived relations between the properties of dust grains and the resulting effective extinction laws, we propose that the extinction laws toward dusty objects could be used to constrain the properties of dust grains in CS environments.

We present new results from an on-going programme to study the dust extragalactic extinction law in E/S0 galaxies with dust lanes with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) during its performance-verification phase. The wavelength dependence of the dust extinction for seven galaxies is derived in six spectral bands ranging from the near-ultraviolet atmospheric cutoff to the near-infrared. The derivation of an extinction law is performed by fitting model galaxies to the unextinguished parts of the image in each spectral band, and subtracting from these the actual images. We compare our results with the derived extinction law in the Galaxy and find them to run parallel to the Galactic extinction curve with a mean total-to-selective extinction value of 2.71+-0.43. We use total optical extinction values to estimate the dust mass for each galaxy, compare these with dust masses derived from IRAS measurements, and find them to range from 10^4 to 10^7 Solar masses. We study the case of the well-known dust-lane galaxy NGC2685 for which HST/WFPC2 data is available to test the dust distribution on different scales. Our results imply a scale-free dust distribution across the dust lanes, at least within ~1 arcsec (~60 pc) regions.