A Dust Lane Leading the Galactic Bar at Negative Galactic Longitudes

Calbet, X.; Mahoney, T.; Hammersley, P. L.; Garzon, F.; Lopez-Corredoira, M.
Referencia bibliográfica

Astrophysical Journal Letters v.457, p.L27

Fecha de publicación:
1
1996
Número de autores
5
Número de autores del IAC
4
Número de citas
22
Número de citas referidas
17
Descripción
Comparing the different wavelengths of the DIRBE integrated surface brightness maps at positive and negative Galactic longitudes on the plane near the Galactic center, it is shown that there exists a thick dust lane (between 1.0 and 2.6 mag of absorption in K) at negative longitudes (as compared to positive ones), which follows the "standard" interstellar extinction law. A likely explanation for this effect is the existence of a thick dust lane preceding the bar. This will have to be confirmed by future infrared surveys, such as DENIS or 2MASS, that will cover negative Galactic longitudes, where a heavy extinction dust lane about 2 deg wide, close to the Galactic plane, should be seen.