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N.L. Chapman, L.G. Mundy, S-P Lai (University of Maryland), Cores to Disks Spitzer Legacy Science Program Collaboration
By observing the spatial distribution and properties of dust in the interstellar medium, we can gain a wealth of information on the environment within molecular clouds. The compositions and sizes of dust grains are impacted by star formation, column density, shocks, and cloud structure.
We have observed a ~.25 square degree region within the Serpens molecular cloud in eight wavebands from 1.25-24 microns. With this many wavelengths we can fit the extinction to individual SEDs and probe the changes in dust properties along every line-of-sight. We present high-resolution extinction maps of the region and show how the extinction law changes across the mapped area. The changes in the extinction law are related to dust properties.
Support for this work, utilizing data from the ``Cores to Disks'' Spitzer Legacy Science Program (Evans et.~al.~2003), was provided by NASA through contract 1224608 issued by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under NASA contract 1407.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.