A large catalogue of molecular clouds in the southern sky

Abstract

We present a large catalogue of molecular clouds with accurate distance estimates in the southern sky. Based on the three-dimensional (3D) dust extinction map and the best-fit extinction and distance information of over 17 million stars presented in Guo et al., we have identified 250 dust/molecular clouds in the southern sky using a hierarchical structure identification algorithm. Amongst them, 71 clouds locating at high Galactic latitudes ($b < -10^\circ$). We have estimated the distances to the clouds by fitting the extinction versus distance profiles of the lines of sight overlapping with the clouds using a simple Gaussian dust distribution model. The typical uncertainties of the distances are less than 7 per$\,$cent. We also provide the physical properties of the individual clouds, including the linear radius, mass and surface mass density.