The complete survey of star-forming regions: Phase I data

Abstract

We present an overview of data available for the Ophiuchus and Perseus molecular clouds from Phase I of the COMPLETE Survey of Star-Forming Regions. This survey provides a range of data complementary to the Spitzer Legacy Program "From Molecular Cores to Planet Forming Disks." Phase I includes the following: extinction maps derived from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) near-infrared data using the NICER algorithm; extinction and temperature maps derived from IRAS 60 and 100 µm emission; H I maps of atomic gas; 12CO and 13CO maps of molecular gas; and submillimeter continuum images of emission from dust in dense cores. Not unexpectedly, the morphology of the regions appears quite different depending on the column density tracer that is used, with IRAS tracing mainly warmer dust and CO being biased by chemical, excitation, and optical depth effects. Histograms of column density distribution are presented, showing that extinction as derived from 2MASS NICER gives the closest match to a lognormal distribution, as is predicted by numerical simulations. All the data presented in this paper, and links to more detailed publications on their implications, are publicly available at the COMPLETE Web site.