Perseus molecular cloud

{{Short description|Region in the constellation of Perseus}}

{{no footnotes|date=March 2021}}

{{infobox nebula

|name= Perseus Molecular Cloud

|image= PerseusCloudMap.png

|caption= Map of the Perseus molecular cloud

|type= giant molecular cloud

|epoch= J2000.0{{cite simbad |title= NAME Perseus Cloud |accessdate= 2014-03-14 }}

|ra= {{RA|03|35.0}}

|dec= {{DEC|+31|13}}

|constellation= Perseus

|dist_ly= 956–1047

|dist_pc= 293–321 {{cite journal|last1=Ortiz-León|first1= Gisela N.|last2= Loinard|first2= Laurent|last3= Dzib|first3= Sergio A.|last4= Galli|first4= Phillip A. B.|last5= Kounkel|first5= Marina|last6= Mioduszewski|first6= Amy J.|last7= Rodríguez|first7= Luis F.|last8= Torres|first8= Rosa M.|last9= Hartmann|first9= Lee|last10= Boden |first10=Andrew F.|last11= Evans|first11= Neal J. II|last12= Briceño|first12= Cesar|last13= Tobin|first13= John J.|title= The Gould's Belt Distances Survey (GOBELINS). V. Distances and Kinematics of the Perseus Molecular Cloud|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|year=2018|doi=10.3847/1538-4357/aada49|bibcode=2018ApJ...865...73O|volume=865|issue= 1|page=73|arxiv= 1808.03499|s2cid= 119422324|doi-access= free}}

|size_v= 6°×2°

|names= Perseus Molecular Cloud, Perseus Cloud, Per MCld, Per Mol Cloud, Perseus Complex, PMC

}}

The Perseus molecular cloud (Per MCld) is a nearby (~1000 ly) giant molecular cloud in the constellation of Perseus and contains over 10,000 solar masses of gas and dust covering an area of 6 by 2 degrees. Unlike the Orion molecular cloud it is almost invisible apart from two clusters, IC 348 and NGC 1333, where low-mass stars are formed. It is very bright at mid and far-infrared wavelengths and in the submillimeter originating in dust heated by the newly formed low-mass stars.

It shows a curious ring structure in maps made by the IRAS and MSX satellites and the Spitzer Space Telescope and has been detected by the COSMOSOMAS at microwave frequencies as a source of anomalous "spinning dust" emission.

{{multipleimage |header=Perseus Molecular Cloud |align=center | caption_align=center |direction=vertical |width= |image1=PIA23405-PerseusMolecularCloud-SkyLocation.jpg |caption1=Location |width1=500 |image2=PIA23405-PerseusMolecularCloud-Annotated.jpg |caption2=Annotated |width2=500 |image3=PIA23405-PerseusMolecularCloud-FullRez.jpg |caption3=Full resolution |width3=500 |footer=Spitzer Space Telescope (19 December 2019) }}