"Far From the Galactic Plane: Adventures in Extinction Mapping"
Near-infrared extinction mapping provides a simple and robust method for determining the column density of dense molecular clouds. Traditionally, this method has been used on nearby clouds located near the galactic plane where the background density of stars is high. At moderate galactic latitudes, deeper exposures are required to obtain a high-resolution map. Two challenges arise in turning these deeper exposures into extinction maps. First, there is a significant population of objects with abnormal colors in the near-infrared, which must be understood and dealt with. Second, there is scattered light from the diffuse galactic background, aka "Cloudshine", which complicates photometry. This second challenge is also a blessing -- an opportunity to study the structure on molecular clouds at high resolution (~1 arcsec) over a broader range of densities (Av = 1-10) than most molecular tracers.