2010MNRAS.409..701P

The supernova remnant (SNR) G357.7+0.3 appears to have caused considerable shredding of the local interstellar medium (ISM), leading to the formation of multiple cloud fragments having bright rims and cometary structures. We investigate five of these regions using mid-infrared (MIR) imaging and photometry deriving from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), as well as photometry deriving from the 2MASS near-infrared all sky survey, the Mid-Course Science Experiment (MSX) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPSGAL) survey of the Galactic plane. It is noted that two of the rims show evidence for emission by shock-excited H₂transitions, whilst the centres of the clouds also show evidence for dark extinction cores, observed in silhouette against the bright emission rims. Levels of extinction for these cores are determined to be of the order of A_V∼ 17-26 mag, whilst densities n(Hi) are of the order of ∼10⁴/cm3, and masses in the region of ∼40-100 M_☉. It is shown that the wavelength dependence of extinction is probably similar to that of Cardelli et al. and Martin & Whittet, but differs from the MIR extinction trends of Indebetouw et al. The distributions of Class I young stellar objects (YSOs) imply that many of them are physically associated with the clouds, and were likely formed as a result of interaction between the clouds and SN winds. A determination of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these stars, together with 2D radiative transfer modelling of their continua is used to place constraints upon their properties.