  The supernova remnant (SNR) G357.7+0.3 appears to have caused considerable
shredding of the local interstellar medium (ISM), leading to the formation of
multiple cloud fragments having bright rims and cometary structures. We
investigate five of these regions using mid-infrared (MIR) imaging and
photometry deriving from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), as well as
photometry deriving from the 2MASS near-infrared all sky survey, the Mid-Course
Science Experiment (MSX), and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer
(MIPSGAL) survey of the Galactic plane. It is noted that two of the rims show
evidence for emission by shock excited H2 transitions, whilst the centres of
the clouds also show evidence for dark extinction cores, observed in silhouette
against the bright emission rims. Levels of extinction for these cores are
determined to be of order AV ~ 17-26 mag, whilst densities n(HI) are of order ~
10^4 cm^(-3), and masses in the region of ~40-100 Msun. It is shown that the
wavelength dependence of extinction is probably similar to that of Cardelli et
al. and Martin & Whittet, but differs from the MIR extinction trends of
Indebetouw et al. The distributions of Class I young stellar objects (YSOs)
implies that many of them are physically associated with the clouds, and were
likely formed as a result of interaction between the clouds and SN winds. A
determination of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these stars,
together with 2-D radiative transfer modelling of their continua is used to
place constraints upon their properties.
