The Distance and the near-IR extinction of the Monoceros Supernova Remnant

TL;DR

This study determines the distance and near-infrared extinction law of the Monoceros Supernova Remnant using multi-survey data, revealing a larger distance than previously thought and confirming the universality of the extinction law.

Contribution

It provides a new, more accurate distance measurement for the Monoceros SNR and confirms the near-infrared extinction law's universality across different nebulae.

Findings

Monoceros SNR distance is 1.98 kpc, larger than previous estimates.

The near-infrared extinction law is consistent with the Milky Way average.

No interaction is suggested between Monoceros SNR and nearby nebulas.

Abstract

Supernova remnants (SNRs) embody the information of the influence on dust properties by the supernova explosion. Based on the color indexes from the 2MASS photometric survey and the stellar parameters from the SDSS$-$DR12$/$APOGEE and LAMOST$-$DR2$/$LEGUE spectroscopic surveys, the near-infrared extinction law and the distance of the Monoceros SNR are derived together with its nearby two nebulas -- the Rosette Nebula and NGC 2264. The distance is found at the position of the sharp increase of interstellar extinction with distance and the nebular extinction is calculated by subtracting the foreground interstellar extinction. The distance of the Monoceros SNR is determined to be $1.98\,$kpc, larger than previous values. Meanwhile, the distance of the Rosette Nebula is $1.55\,$kpc, generally consistent with previous work. The distance between these two nebulas suggests no interaction between them. The distance of NGC 2264, $1.20\,$kpc, exceeds previous values. The color excess ratio, $E_{\rm JH}/E_{\rm JK_S}$, is 0.657 for the Monoceros SNR, consistent with the average value 0.652 for the Milky Way (Xue et al. 2016). The consistency is resulted from that the SNR material is dominated by interstellar dust rather than the supernova ejecta. $E_{\rm JH}/E_{\rm JK_S}$ equals to 0.658 for the Rosette Nebula, further proving the universality of the near-infrared extinction law.