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A New Galactic Extinction Map in High Ecliptic Latitudes

In this study, we derived a galactic extinction map in high ecliptic latitudes for |β| > 30 degrees. The dust temperature distribution was derived from the intensities at 100 and 140 μm with a spatial resolution of 5'. The intensity at 140 μm was derived from the intensities at 60 and 100 μm of the IRAS data assuming two tight correlations between the intensities at 60, 100, and 140 μm of the COBE/DIRBE data. We found that these correlations can be separated into two correlations by the antenna temperature of the radio continuum at 41 GHz. Because the present study can trace the 5'-scale spatial variation in the dust temperature distribution, it has an advantage over the extinction map derived by Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis, who used the DIRBE maps to derive dust temperature distribution with a spatial resolution of 1 degrees. We estimated the accuracy of our method by comparing it with that of Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis. The spatial resolution difference was found to be significant. The area in which the significant difference is confirmed occupies 28% of the region for |β| > 30 degrees. With respect to the estimation of extragalactic reddening, the present study has an advantage over the extinction map derived by Dobashi (2011), which was based on the 2MASS Point Source Catalog, because our extinction map is derived on the basis of far-infrared emission. Dobashi's extinction map exhibits a maximum value that is lower than that of our map in the galactic plane and a signal-to-noise ratio that is lower than that of our map in high galactic latitudes. This significant difference is confirmed in 81% of the region for |β| > 30 degrees. In the areas where the significant differences are confirmed, the extinction should be estimated using our method rather than the previous methods.