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Description
A systematic comparison between molecular clouds in different evolutionary stages and processes of star formation is made over the range of 8{deg} to 38{deg} in Galactic longitude and -1{deg} to +1{deg} in Galactic latitude by using the Massachusetts-Stony Brook Survey data of ^12^CO in the Galactic plane (HPFW=47") and the IRAS Infrared Sky Survey image data (1.5' per pixel). This region is divided into thirty subregions. Then, the space distribution of CO(1-0) emission and the corresponding infrared intensity at 60ymis obtained for each subregion, and the contours of infrared color temperatures and optical depths of molecular cloud complexes in the corresponding regions are calculated and derived. Moreover, the catalogs of the IRAS infrared point sources and HII regions are used. Thus, molecular clouds in different evolutionary stages are identified and divided into four groups ranging from young clouds to evolved clouds, and their main characteristics and relations to the processes of star formation are analysed. The Galatic-longitude distributions of ultracompact HII regions and candidate protostars as well as the ratio between HII region-molecular cloud and candidate protostar-molecular cloud associations are analysed statistically. The results indicate that star formation activities are currently still going on in our Galaxy.
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