Description
Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) are extinction features against the Galactic infrared background, mainly in the mid-infrared band. Recently they were proposed to be potential sites of massive star formation. In this work we have made a ^12^CO, ^13^CO, and C^18^O (J=1->0) survey of 61 IRDCs, 52 of which are in the first Galactic quadrant, selected from a catalog given by Simon and coworkers (2006, Cat. J/ApJ/639/227), while the others are in the outer Galaxy, selected by visually inspecting the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) images. Detection rates in the three CO lines are 90%, 71%, and 62%, respectively. The distribution of IRDCs in the first Galactic quadrant is consistent with the 5kpc molecular ring picture, while a slight trace of a spiral pattern is also noticeable, and needs to be further examined. The IRDCs have a typical excitation temperature of 10K and typical column density of several 10^22^cm^-2^. Their typical physical size is estimated to be several parsecs using angular sizes from the Simon catalog.
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