A survey of H₂O, CO₂, and CO ice features toward background stars and low-mass young stellar objects using <i>AKARI</i>

We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 19 molecular clouds made using the AKARI satellite, and the data reduction pipeline written to analyze those observations. The 2.5-5 μm spectra of 30 objects—22 field stars behind quiescent molecular clouds and 8 low-mass young stellar objects in cores—were successfully extracted using the pipeline. Those spectra are further analyzed to calculate the column densities of key solid phase molecular species, including H2O, CO2, CO, and OCN–. The profile of the H2O ice band is seen to vary across the objects observed and we suggest that the extended red wing may be an evolutionary indicator of both dust and ice mantle properties. The observation of 22 spectra with fluxes as low as 2O, CO, and CO2 were calculated, provides valuable data that could help to benchmark the initial conditions in star-forming regions prior to the onset of star formation