Bok globule 2 in the Southern Coalsack dark cloud is characterized on the basis of JHK photometry and spectroscopy and H-band polarimetry obtained with the Anglo-Australian Telescope and 65-micron and 135-micron observations obtained with the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The data are presented in tables and graphs and discussed in detail. A 3-sigma upper limit of 3 Jy is found for the 135-micron emission, no central density enhancement is detected down to 15 arcsec, and the temperatures of the dust and gas are estimated as 10 K or less. The polarization map shows some evidence for a magnetic-field-induced structure, but not at the very high (mG) level required for magnetic support of a cold quiescent stable gas sphere in a conventional paramagnetic-relaxation model. Alternative explanations based on weaker magnetic-field effects (as suggested by Mouschovias, 1978), superparamagnetism, or such nonthermal spinup mechanisms as H2 formation at active sites are examined briefly.
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Jones et al. (1984) studied this question.