We have analysed the Herschel and SCUBA-2 dust continuum observations of the main filament in the Taurus L1495 star forming region, using the Bayesian fitting procedure ppmap. (i) If we construct an average profile along the whole length of the filament, it has fwhm 0.087 ± 0.003 pc; , but the closeness to previous estimates is coincidental. (ii) If we analyse small local sections of the filament, the columndensity profile approximates well to the form predicted for hydrostatic equilibrium of an isothermal cylinder. (iii) The ability of ppmap to distinguish dust emitting at different temperatures, and thereby to discriminate between the warm outer layers of the filament and the cold inner layers near the spine, leads to a significant reduction in the surface-density, Σ, and hence in the line-density, µ. If we adopt the canonical value for the critical line-density at a gas-kinetic temperature of 10 K, µ CRIT 16 M pc −1 , the filament is on average trans-critical, withμ ∼ µ CRIT ; local sections where µ > µ CRIT tend to lie close to pre-stellar cores. (iv) The ability of ppmap to distinguish different types of dust, i.e. dust characterised by different values of the emissivity index, β, reveals that the dust in the filament has a lower emissivity index, β < ∼ 1.5, than the dust outside the filament, β > ∼ 1.7, implying that the physical conditions in the filament have effected a change in the properties of the dust.

We present complicated dust structures within multiple regions of the candidate supernova remnant (SNR) the ‘Tornado’ (G357.7−0.1) using observations with Spitzer and Herschel. We use Point Process Mapping, ppmap, to investigate the distribution of dust in the Tornado at a resolution of 8″, compared to the native telescope beams of 5 − 36″. We find complex dust structures at multiple temperatures within both the head and the tail of the Tornado, ranging from 15 to 60 K. Cool dust in the head forms a shell, with some overlap with the radio emission, which envelopes warm dust at the X-ray peak. Akin to the terrestrial sandy whirlwinds known as ‘Dust Devils’, we find a large mass of dust contained within the Tornado. We derive a total dust mass for the Tornado head of 16.7 $\rm M_{\odot }$, assuming a dust absorption coefficient of κ300 =0.56$\, \rm m^2\, kg^{-1}$, which can be explained by interstellar material swept up by a SNR expanding in a dense region. The X-ray, infra-red, and radio emission from the Tornado head indicate that this is a SNR. The origin of the tail is more unclear, although we propose that there is an X-ray binary embedded in the SNR, the outflow from which drives into the SNR shell. This interaction forms the helical tail structure in a similar manner to that of the SNR W50 and microquasar SS433.

Chemical models predict that in cold cores gas-phase methanol is expected to be abundant at the outer edge of the CO depletion zone, where CO is actively adsorbed. CO adsorption correlates with volume density in cold cores, and, in nearby molecular clouds, catastrophic CO freeze-out happens at volume densities above 104 cm−3. The methanol production rate is maximized there and its freeze-out rate does not overcome its production rate, while the molecules are shielded from UV destruction by gas and dust. Thus, in cold cores, methanol abundance should generally correlate with visual extinction, which depends on both volume and column density. In this work, we test the most basic model prediction that maximum methanol abundance is associated with a local A V ∼ 4 mag in dense cores and constrain the model parameters with the observational data. With the IRAM 30 m antenna, we mapped the CH3OH (2–1) and (3–2) transitions toward seven dense cores in the L1495 filament in Taurus to measure the methanol abundance. We use the Herschel/SPIRE maps to estimate visual extinction, and the C18O(2–1) maps from Tafalla & Hacar to estimate CO depletion. We explored the observed and modeled correlations between the methanol abundances, CO depletion, and visual extinction, varying the key model parameters. The modeling results show that hydrogen surface diffusion via tunneling is crucial to reproduce the observed methanol abundances, and the necessary reactive desorption efficiency matches the one deduced from laboratory experiments.

Large scale surveys have brought about a revolution in astronomy. To analyse the resulting wealth of data, we need automated tools to identify, classify, and quantify the important underlying structures. We present here a method for classifying and quantifying a pixelated structure, based on its principal moments of inertia. The method enables us to automatically detect, and objectively compare, centrally condensed cores, elongated filaments and hollow rings. We illustrate the method by applying it to (i) observations of surface-density from Hi-GAL, and (ii) simulations of filament growth in a turbulent medium. We limit the discussion here to 2D data; in a future paper we will extend the method to 3D data.

We use the Point Process MAPping (PPMAP) algorithm to reanalyse the Herschel and SCUBA-2 observations of the L1688 and L1689 subregions of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud. PPMAP delivers maps with high resolution (here 14 arcsec, corresponding to ${\sim}0.01\, {\rm pc}$ at ${\sim}140\, {\rm pc}$), by using the observations at their native resolutions. PPMAP also delivers more accurate dust optical depths, by distinguishing dust of different types and at different temperatures. The filaments and pre-stellar cores almost all lie in regions with $N_{\rm H_2}\gtrsim 7\times 10^{21}\, {\rm cm}^{-2}$ (corresponding to AV ≳ 7). The dust temperature, T, tends to be correlated with the dust opacity index, β, with low T and low β concentrated in the interiors of filaments. The one exception to this tendency is a section of filament in L1688 that falls – in projection – between the two B stars: S1 and HD147889; here T and β are relatively high, and there is compelling evidence that feedback from these two stars has heated and compressed the filament. Filament fwhms are typically in the range $0.10$ to $0.15\, {\rm pc}$. Most filaments have line-densities in the range $25$ to $65\, {\rm M_{\odot }\, pc^{-1}}$. If their only support is thermal gas pressure, and the gas is at the canonical temperature of $10\, {\rm K}$, the filaments are highly supercritical. However, there is some evidence from ammonia observations that the gas is significantly warmer than this, and we cannot rule out the possibility of additional support from turbulence and/or magnetic fields. On the basis of their spatial distribution, we argue that most of the starless cores are likely to disperse (rather than evolving to become pre-stellar).