The distances of 61 PGCCs in the Second Galactic Quadrant

TL;DR

This study accurately estimates the distances to 61 PGCCs in the second Galactic quadrant using stellar reddening profiles, significantly improving previous kinematic estimates and enabling better understanding of their physical properties.

Contribution

The paper introduces a method to determine precise distances to PGCCs using stellar reddening data, reducing uncertainties and updating their physical parameters.

Findings

Distances to 61 PGCCs with less than 8% uncertainty.

Significant differences from previous kinematic distance estimates.

Updated physical parameters of PGCC cores, including radii and masses.

Abstract

Determining the distances to the Planck Galactic cold clumps (PGCCs) is crucial for the measurement of their physical parameters and the study of their Galactic distribution. Based on two large catalogues of stars with robust distances and reddening estimates from the literature, we have estimated accurate distances to 61 PGCCs in the second Galactic quadrant. For this purpose, we have selected stars along the sightlines overlapping with the cores of the sample clumps and fitted the reddening profiles with a simple reddening model. The typical uncertainties of the resultant distances of these PGCCs are less than 8 per cent. The new estimates differ significantly from the kinematic values, well known to suffer from large errors. With the new distances, we have updated the physical properties including the radii, masses and virial parameters of the cores of the PGCCs.