2000A&A...358.1077N

With the Danish 1.54 m telescope at La Silla, Chile, we have obtained deep (V≃19mag) CCD frames in the uvby-β Stroemgren system towards the region of the cometary globules CG30/31/38. Also, a nearby reference field, with a minor amount of visible molecular material, has been observed in order to estimate the expected normal foreground reddening in this direction of the Galaxy. We have obtained complete uvby-β information for 698 and 526 stars in these two regions, respectively, allowing a determination of individual stellar extinctions and distances for the A- to G-type star subsample meeting the criteria in the calibrations. A lower envelope in the distance-reddening diagram (r-E(b-y)) indicates that the minimum total absorption through half the Galactic disk along the line of sight is A_V≃1.3mag in this direction. The distance to the CG30/31/38 complex is not directly derived from the r-E(b-y)-diagram but two faint foreground M-dwarfs are identified, and based on the obtained V,(V-I) photometry a lower distance limit of 215±40 pc is derived. We also report the discovery of a galaxy seen in V and I-band exposures in spite of the high extinction, located at the very low galactic latitude of b~-1.6°.