J/ApJ/770/39ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/770/39doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.17700039CDSEllsworth-Bowers T.P.Glenn J.Rosolowsky E.Mairs S.Evans N.J. II,Battersby C.Ginsburg A.Shirley Y.L.Bally J.2025-10-16T20:15:00Z2015-01-29T09:21:33ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frmillimeter-astronomysubmillimeter-astronomysurveysgalaxy-planesmilky-way-galaxyWe present a new distance estimation method for dust-continuum-identified molecular cloud clumps. Recent (sub-)millimeter Galactic plane surveys have cataloged tens of thousands of these objects, plausible precursors to stellar clusters, but detailed study of their physical properties requires robust distance determinations. We derive Bayesian distance probability density functions (DPDFs) for 770 objects from the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey in the Galactic longitude range 7.5{deg}<=l<=65{deg}. The DPDF formalism is based on kinematic distances, and uses any number of external data sets to place prior distance probabilities to resolve the kinematic distance ambiguity (KDA) for objects in the inner Galaxy. We present here priors related to the mid-infrared absorption of dust in dense molecular regions and the distribution of molecular gas in the Galactic disk. By assuming a numerical model of Galactic mid-infrared emission and simple radiative transfer, we match the morphology of (sub-)millimeter thermal dust emission with mid-infrared absorption to compute a prior DPDF for distance discrimination. Selecting objects first from (sub-)millimeter source catalogs avoids a bias towards the darkest infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) and extends the range of heliocentric distance probed by mid-infrared extinction and includes lower-contrast sources. We derive well-constrained KDA resolutions for 618 molecular cloud clumps, with approximately 15% placed at or beyond the tangent distance. Objects with mid-infrared contrast sufficient to be cataloged as IRDCs are generally placed at the near kinematic distance. Distance comparisons with Galactic Ring Survey KDA resolutions yield a 92% agreement. A face-on view of the Milky Way using resolved distances reveals sections of the Sagittarius and Scutum-Centaurus Arms. This KDA-resolution method for large catalogs of sources through the combination of (sub-)millimeter and mid-infrared observations of molecular cloud clumps is generally applicable to other dust-continuum Galactic plane surveys.2013ApJ...770...39Ehttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/770/39CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/A+A/568/A41 : ATLASGAL Compact Source Catalog: 280<l<60 (Urquhart+, 2014)J/ApJS/209/2 : The BGPS. X. Dense molecular gas (Shirley+, 2013)J/MNRAS/431/1587 : GRS/BGPS sources in Galactic Plane (Eden+, 2013)J/MNRAS/422/3178 : Distances of 793 BGPS sources (Eden+, 2012)J/A+A/526/A151 : Hi-Gal sources distance determination (Russeil+, 2011)J/ApJ/741/110 : The BGPS. VII. Massive star-forming regions (Dunham+, 2011)J/ApJ/731/90 : Mid-IR content of BGPS sources (Dunham+, 2011)J/ApJS/195/14 : The BGPS. V. (Schlingman+, 2011)J/ApJS/188/123 : The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey. II. (Rosolowsky+, 2010)J/ApJ/721/137 : The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS) (Bally+, 2010)J/ApJ/699/1153 : Kinematic dist. to GRS molecular clouds (Roman-Duval+, 2009)J/ApJS/175/509 : Ammonia spectral atlas in Perseus (Rosolowsky+, 2008)J/A+A/453/635 : Galactic Interstellar Extinction models (Marshall+, 2006)J/ApJ/641/389 : Millimetric observations of IRDC cores (Rathborne+, 2006)J/ApJ/638/293 : 1.1mm sources in the Perseus Molecular Cloud (Enoch+, 2006)J/ApJ/626/195 : HI self-absorption (HISA) survey in the CGPS (Gibson+, 2005)J/ApJS/154/553 : Inner galaxy massive star formation regions (Sewilo+, 2004)http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/BOLOCAM_GPS/ : Bolocam GPS archivehttps://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/770/39https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/770/39http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/770/39https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/770/39https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/770/39http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/ApJ/770/39GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/ApJ/770/39/table3 (Observed and derived properties of Eight-Micron Absorption Feature (EMAF)-selected BGPS molecular cloud clumps)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/770/39/table3?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/770/39/table3?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/770/39/table3?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true271.13939-22.173220.0055555555555555565/7278 7383 7564 7578 7605 6/14337 14353 28918-28919 29090-29091 29094 29097 29100-29101 29103 29116 29118-29119 29460-29461 29504-29505 29507-29508 29510-29511 29522-29523 29528-29529 29531 30216 30218-30219 30222-30223 30241 30244-30245 30247 30262-30263 30268-30269 30306 30316 30318-30319 30330 30405 30416-30417 30594-30595 30604-30605 30616 30619 30622-30623 30644-30645 30692 30694-30695 30716 30719https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/ApJ/770/39?format=asciiMillimeterdefaultJ/ApJ/770/39/table3Observed and derived properties of Eight-Micron Absorption Feature (EMAF)-selected BGPS molecular cloud clumpsrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintSeq[1326/6483] BGPS V1.0 Catalog Number (Rosolowskys et al. 2010, J/ApJS/188/123; <BGPS GLLL.lll+BB.bbb> in Simbad)meta.idintprimaryGLONGalactic Longitude of clumpdegpos.galactic.lonGLATGalactic Latitude of clumpdegpos.galactic.latS40[0.07/3.6] 40" flux density, corrected (1)Jyphot.flux.density;em.mm.200-400GHzfloate_S40[0.03/0.6] 40" flux density error, corrected (1)Jystat.errorfloatVlsr[8.8/120.2] LSR Velocitykm/sphys.veloc;pos.lsrfloatr_VlsrVelocity Reference(s) (2)meta.ref;phys.veloc;pos.framechar_RA.icrsRight ascension (ICRS) (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data. The format may include more digits than the original data because of internal accuracy requirements in VizieR and across other CDS services)degpos.eq.raindexed_DE.icrsDeclination (ICRS) (computed by VizieR, not part of the original data. The format may include more digits than the original data because of internal accuracy requirements in VizieR and across other CDS services)degpos.eq.decindexedC[0/1] EMAF Contrastphot.flux;arith.ratiofloate_C[0.01/0.3] EMAF Contrast errorstat.errorfloatKDA[NFTU] Kinematic Distance Ambiguity Resolution: N=near, F=far, T=tangent point, U=unconstrainedmeta.codecharPML[0.5/1] Maximum-likelihood probability for dML (3)stat.fit.goodnessfloatdML[0.8/14.3]? Maximum-likelihood distance d_ML_kpcpos.distance;pos.heliocentricfloatnullableE_dML[0.1/2]? Upper error in dMLkpcstat.error;stat.maxfloatnullablee_dML[0.1/2]? Lower error in dMLkpcstat.errorfloatnullable<d>[5.6/7.4]? Weighted-average distancekpcpos.distance;pos.heliocentricfloatnullablee_<d>[0.6/1.2]? Weighted-average distance errorkpcstat.errorfloatnullableSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharnullable