2000A&A...362.1138K

We report a possible confirmation of the short 200pc distance to the cometary globules CG 30/31/38 suggested by a previously discussed (V-I)-V diagram to V_lim≃20mag. New 2 magnitudes deeper V and I photometry centered on CG 31A indicate the presence of visual extinction A_V=5.6mag at 200pc. In addition, we may have measured an absorption gradient along the tail of CG 31C with A_V varying between 7.0mag and 3.5.mag The Hipparcos - Tycho-2 sample of double stars is used to demonstrate that the bright - red confinements in the colour-magnitude diagram, which we use to estimate the distance and absorption of nearby molecular clouds, probably can not be caused by duplicity.