Bok Globules in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We report the discovery of small, isolated dust clouds in the LargeMagellanic Cloud, which are excellent candidates for counterparts to the Bokglobules observed in the Galaxy. We detect these small clouds silhouttedagainst diffuse H-alpha emission, based on parallel imaging with the WFPC-2 onHST. The clouds we identify as Bok globule candidates have typical sizes ofapproximately one arcsecond, corresponding to about 0.25 parsec linear diameterat the distance of the LMC. We derive lower limits to the optical depth withinthe dark clouds, and masses assuming that the clouds have density distributionssimilar to Galactic Bok globules. The sizes and estimated masses for LMCglobules are comparable to those estimated for Galactic globules. An extendsample of such objects would be excellent targets for high-resolution infraredand millimeter observations to study low-mass star formation in such clouds inlow-metallicity environments, and where the distance is well known.Comment: 14 pages, 3 postscript figures, aaspp4.sty; to appear in A