The Extinction and Distance of the MBM Molecular Clouds at High Galactic Latitude

Abstract

Based on the accurate color excess of more than 4 million stars and the of more than 1 million stars from Sun et al., the distance and extinction of the molecular clouds (MCs) in the Magnani–Blitz–Mundy catalog at ∣b∣ > 20° are studied in combination with the distance measurement of Gaia/EDR3. The distance, as well as the color excess, is determined for 66 MCs. The color excess ratio is derived for 39 of them, which is obviously larger and implies more small particles at smaller extinction. In addition, the scale height of the dust disk is found to be about 100 pc and becomes large at the anticenter direction due to the disk flaring.