On the redistribution of OB star luminosity and the warming of nearby molecular clouds

IRAS observations of the neighborhoods of six H II regions in the outer Galaxy are correlated with CO maps of the same regions. It is found that more than half of the far-IR luminosity from within about 25 to 75 pc of the ionizing stars is contributed by dust associated with molecular clouds. It is shown that a major and increasing fraction of the OB cluster starlight is not absorbed locally. The observations suggest that the H II regions are not radiation-bounded and have ion densities of about 1/cu cm. A model describing the interstellar environment of OB star clusters as a function of time is presented.