Molecular Clouds Are Not Fractal: A Characteristic Size Scale in Taurus
Open Access
- 20 October 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 488 (2) , L145-L148
- https://doi.org/10.1086/310941
Abstract
A simple, robust method of determining whether molecular clouds are fractal is described. The method is applied to the Taurus Molecular Cloud, which is shown to exhibit a change in the character of the structure on a scale of 0.25-0.5 pc, close to the thermal Jeans length at the gas densities probed by 13CO. The method is applicable to any data cube of optically thin emission.Keywords
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