Cambridge University Press (CUP), Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, H15(5), p. 412-412
DOI: 10.1017/s1743921310010008
Full text: Unavailable
We have applied the unsharp-masking technique to the 24 μm image of the SMC, obtained with the Spitzer, to search for high-extinction regions. Fifty-five candidate regions of high-extincion (namely high-contrast regions, HCRs) have been identified from the decremental contrast image. HCRs have a size of 8 - 14 pc and a peak contrast at 24 μm of 2 - 2.5%. To constrain physical properties of HCRs, we have performed observations of NH3, N2H+, HNC, HCO+, and HCN toward one of the HCRs, HCR LIRS36–east, using the ATCA and the Mopra telescope. No molecular line emission detected, but upper limits to column densities of molecular species suggest that HCRs are moderately dense with n ~ 103 cm−3. Two interesting properties of HCRs are shown below.