A SCUBA survey of compact dark Lynds clouds

We present the first results of a submillimetre continuum survey of Lynds d ark clouds. Submillimetre surveys of star-forming regions are an important tool with which to obtain representative samples of the very first phases o f star formation. Maps of 24 small clouds were obtained with SCUBA, the bol ometer array receiver at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and 19 clouds w ere detected. The total dark cloud area surveyed was similar to 130arcmin(2 ), and a total gas mass of 90M(circle dot) was detected. The dust emission is in general in good agreement with the extinction of optical starlight. T he observed clouds contain a newly discovered protostar in L944, and a prev iously known protostar IRAS 23228+4320 in L1246. Another eight starless cor es, either gravitationally unbound or pre-stellar in nature, were also dete cted. All starless cores and protostars were detected in only seven clouds, and the remaining 17 clouds seem quiescent and do not show any signs of re cent star formation activity. The 850-mum images of all detected clouds are presented, as well as 450-mum images of L328, L944, L1014 and L1262. The o utflows of the protostars in L944 and L1246 were also discovered and were m apped in (CO)-C-12 J = 2 --> 1. The detection of the young protostar in L94 4, which is not present in the IRAS Point Source Catalog, shows the capacit y of submillimetre surveys to detect unknown protostars.