Perseus molecular cloud

Map of the Perseus molecular cloud.

The Perseus molecular cloud is a nearby (600 ly) Giant Molecular Cloud in the constellation of Perseus and contains over 10,000 solar masses of gas and dust covering an area of 6 by 2 degrees. Unlike the Orion molecular cloud it is almost invisible apart from two clusters, IC 348 and NGC 1333, where low-mass stars are formed. It is very bright at mid and far-infrared wavelengths and in the submillimeter originating in dust heated by the newly formed low-mass stars.

It shows a curious ring structure in maps made by the IRAS and MSX satellites and the Spitzer Space Telescope and has recently detected by the COSMOSOMAS at microwave frequencies as a source of anomalous "spinning dust" emission.

References

• Bally, J.; Walawender, J.; Johnstone, D.; Kirk, H.; Goodman, A. (December 2008). "The Perseus Cloud". Handbook of Star Forming Regions, Volume I: the Northern Sky ASP Monograph Publications 4: 308. Bibcode:2008hsf1.book..308B. ISBN 978-1-58381-670-7. 
• Kirk, Helen; Johnstone, Doug; Di Francesco, James (August 2006). "The Large- and Small-Scale Structures of Dust in the Star-forming Perseus Molecular Cloud". The Astrophysical Journal 646 (2): 1009–1023. arXiv:astro-ph/0602089. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646.1009K. doi:10.1086/503193. 
• More on THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/656/1/293