STARLIGHT POLARIZATION AND CO OBSERVATIONS TOWARDS THE LUPUS CLOUDS

We performed an observational study of the dark filaments Lupus 1 and Lupus 4 using both polarimetric observations of 190 stars and a sample of 72 (CO)-C-12 profiles towards these clouds. We have estimated lowe r limits to the distances of Lupus 1 and Lupus 4 (greater than or simi lar to 140 and greater than or similar to 125 pc, respectively). The o bservational strategy of the survey allows us to compare the projected magnetic field in an extended area around each cloud with the magneti c field direction observed to prevail along the clouds. Lupus 4 could have collapsed along the magnetic field lines, while in Lupus 1 the ma gnetic field appears to be less ordered, having the major axis of the filaments parallel to the large-scale projected magnetic held. These d ifferences would imply that both filaments have different pattern evol utions. From the CO observations we have probed the velocity fields of the filaments and the spatial extension of the molecular gas with res pect to the dust.