Young stars and reflection nebulae near the lower "edge" of the Galactic
  molecular disc
  We investigate the star formation occurring in a region well below the
Galactic plane towards the optical reflection nebula ESO 368-8 (IRAS
07383-3325). We confirm the presence of a small young stellar cluster (or
aggregate of tens of YSOs) identified earlier, embedded in a molecular cloud
located near the lower "edge" of the Galactic disc, and characterise the young
stellar population. We report the discovery of a near-infrared nebula, and
present a CO map revealing a new dense, dynamic cloud core. We used
near-infrared JHKs images, millimetre CO spectra and optical V-band images.
This star formation region displays an optical reflection nebula (ESO 368-8)
and a near-infrared nebula located about 46" (1.1 pc) from each other. The two
nebulae are likely to be coeval and to represent two manifestations of the same
single star formation episode with about 1 Myr age. The near-IR nebula reveals
an embedded, optically and near-IR invisible source whose light scatters off a
cavity carved by previous stellar jets or molecular outflows and into our
line-of-sight. The molecular cloud is fully covered by our CO(J=1-0) maps and,
traced by this line, extends over a region of 7.8 x 7.8 pc^2, exhibiting an
angular size 5.4' x 5.4' and shape (close to circular) similar to spherical (or
slightly cometary) globules. Towards the direction of the near-IR nebula, the
molecular cloud contains a dense core where the molecular gas exhibits large
line widths indicative of a very dynamical state, with stirred gas and
supersonic motions. Our estimates of the mass of the molecular gas in this
region range from 600 to 1600 solar masses. The extinction Av towards the
positions of the optical reflection nebula and of the near-IR nebula was found
to be Av=3-4 mag and Av=12-15 mag, respectively.
