Fitting procedure for estimating interstellar extinction at high galactic latitudes

TL;DR

This paper presents a new method to estimate interstellar extinction at high galactic latitudes using Gaia EDR3 data, modeling the distribution with cosecant law and spherical harmonics for accurate line-of-sight extinction estimates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fitting procedure combining Gaia and RAVE data to derive a detailed mathematical model of interstellar extinction across the sky.

Findings

Derived extinction parameters for various lines of sight.

Created a spherical harmonic model of extinction distribution.

Provided a practical tool for estimating interstellar extinction.

Abstract

We determine the interstellar extinction in the selected high-latitude areas of the sky based on Gaia EDR3 astrometry and photometry and spectroscopic data from RAVE survey. We approximate the results with the cosecant law in each area thus deriving the parameters of the barometric formula for different lines of sight. The distribution of the parameters over the entire sky is described using spherical harmonics. As a result, we get a mathematical description of the interstellar visual extinction for different lines of sight and distances from the Sun which can be used for estimating interstellar extinction.