Abstract

We present near-IR and high sensitivity millimeter observations towards the major star forming region N66 in the SMC. Images in the v(1-0) S(1) line of H-2 at 2.12 mum and in the adjacent 2.14 mum continuum reveal the presence of molecular gas delineating the borders of a cavity and coincident with a dust lane as seen in [OIII] lambda 5007 images. Deep CO(2-1) observations towards the HII region shows the existence of weak molecular gas emission. Comparison to mid-IR images obtained by ISO reveals an interesting photodissociation region. We show that the molecular gas that has not yet been photodissociated by the UV radiation of the stars is in hot, dense clumps with a very small surface filling factor.