By combining the photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric information of the stars in the sightline of supernova remnants (SNRs), the distances to and the extinctions of 32 Galactic SNRs are investigated. The stellar atmospheric parameters are from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey−DR14/Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment and Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope−DR5/LEGUE spectroscopic surveys. The multiband photometry, from optical to infrared, are collected from the Gaia, APASS, Pan-STARRS1, Two Micron All Sky Survey, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer surveys. With the calibrated Gaia distances of individual stars, the distances to 15 of 32 SNRs are well determined from their produced extinction and association with molecular clouds. The upper limits of distance are derived for three SNRs. The color excess ratios of 32 SNRs are calculated, and their variation with wavebands is fitted by a simple dust model. The inferred dust grain size distribution bifurcates: while the graphite grains have comparable size to the average interstellar medium dust, the silicate grains are generally larger. Along the way, the average extinction law from optical to near-infrared of the Milky Way is derived from the 1.3-million-star sample and found to agree with the CCM89 law with .

Supernova remnants (SNRs) contain information on the influence of supernova explosions on dust properties. Based on the color indices from the Two Micron All Sky Survey and the stellar parameters from the SDSS–DR12/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment and LAMOST−DR2/LAMOST Experiment for Galactic Understanding and Exploration spectroscopic surveys, the near-infrared extinction law of and the distance to the Monoceros SNR are derived together with those of two nebulae close to it, the Rosette Nebula and NGC 2264. The distance is found at the position of the sharp increase of the interstellar extinction with distance, and the nebular extinction is calculated by subtracting the foreground interstellar extinction. The distance to the Monoceros SNR is determined to be 1.98 kpc, larger than previous values. Meanwhile, the distance to the Rosette Nebula is 1.55 kpc, which is generally consistent with previous work. The distance between these two nebulae suggests no interaction between them. The distance to NGC 2264, 1.20 kpc, exceeds previous values. The color excess ratio, , is 0.657 for the Monoceros SNR, consistent with the average value of 0.652 for the Milky Way. This consistency results from the fact that the SNR material is dominated by interstellar dust rather than by supernova ejecta. is equal to 0.658 for the Rosette Nebula, further proving the universality of the near-infrared extinction law.

IRS 13E is an enigmatic compact group of massive stars located in projection only 3.6 arcsec away from Sgr A*. This group has been suggested to be bounded by an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). We present a multiwavelength study of the group and its interplay with the environment. Based on Chandra observations, we find the X-ray spectrum of IRS 13E can be well characterized by an optically thin thermal plasma. The emission peaks between two strongly mass-losing Wolf–Rayet stars of the group. These properties can be reasonably well reproduced by simulated colliding winds of these two stars. However, this scenario underpredicts the X-ray intensity in outer regions. The residual emission likely results from the ram-pressure confinement of the IRS 13E group wind by the ambient medium and is apparently associated with a shell-like warm gas structure seen in Pa α and in ALMA observations. These latter observations also show strongly peaked thermal emission with unusually large velocity spread between the two stars. These results indicate that the group is colliding with the bar of the dense cool gas mini-spiral around Sgr A*. The extended X-ray morphology of IRS 13E and its association with the bar further suggest that the group is physically much farther away than the projected distance from Sgr A*. The presence of an IMBH, while favourable to keep the stars bound together, is not necessary to explain the observed stellar and gas properties of IRS 13E.

The unusual extinction curves of SN 2010jl provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the properties of dust formed by core-collapse supernovae. By using a series of dust models with different compositions and grain size distributions, we fit the extinction curves of SN 2010jl and find that a silicate–graphite mixture dust model characterized by exponentially cut-off power-law size distributions can well reproduce its unusual extinction curves. The best-fitting results show that the extinctions derived from the dust models are consistent with the observed values at all epochs. However, the total-to-selective extinction ratio RV is ∼2.8–3.1, which is significantly smaller than the value of RV ≈ 6.4 derived by Gall et al. The best-fitting models indicate that the dust grains around SN 2010jl are possibly composed of small-sized astronomical silicate grains and micron-sized graphite grains. In addition, by fitting the optical to mid-infrared spectral energy distribution, we find that the dust mass around SN 2010jl increases with time, up to $0.005\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$ around 1300 d after peak brightness, which is consistent with previous estimates (Gall et al.; Sarangi et al.).

Investigating the extinction properties in dense molecular clouds is of significant importance for understanding the behavior of interstellar dust and its impact on observations. In this study, we comprehensively examined the extinction law in the Ophiuchus cloud across a wavelength range from 0.8 $\mathsf{\mu }$m to 8 $\mathsf{\mu }$m. To achieve this, we analyzed NIR and MIR data obtained from the UKIDSS GCS and the Spitzer c2d survey, respectively. By fitting a series of color–color diagrams, we determined color-excess ratios $E_{J-\lambda }/E_{J-K}$ for seven passbands. These ratios were then directly converted to derive the relative extinction law $A_{\lambda }/A_K$. Our findings demonstrate that the Ophiuchus cloud exhibits a characteristic of flat MIR extinction, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, our results reveal variations in the extinction law with extinction depth, indicating a flatter trend from the NIR to MIR bands as extinction increases. Notably, our analysis reveals no significant difference in the MIR extinction law among the four dark clouds: L1712, L1689, L1709, and L1688. However, distinct variations were observed in the extinction law for regions outside the dark clouds, specifically L1688N and L1688W. These regions displayed lower color-excess ratios $E_{J-\lambda }/E_{J-K}$ in the Spitzer/IRAC bands. This observation lends support to the dust growth occurring in the dense regions of the Ophiuchus cloud.