coreshine maqze-tâb Fr.: éclat de cœur The → mid-infrared radiation which is scattered by unusually large → dust grains in the denser core regions of → molecular clouds. It occurs between 3 and 5 μm, when the light from nearby stars undergoes → scattering by the grains provided that they are about 1 μm in size, instead of 0.1 μm, as previously thought. Coreshine, which was detected in Spitzer IRAC data, is a widespread astronomical phenomenon. It is found across dozens of → dark clouds in the Galaxy and during all the phases of the → low-mass star formation (Pagani et al. 2010, Science, 329, 1622). See also → cloudshine. |