TY - JOUR
T1 - A large-scale CO survey of the galactic center
AU - Oka, Tomoharu
AU - Hasegawa, Tetsuo
AU - Sato, Fumio
AU - Tsuboi, Masato
AU - Miyazaki, Atsushi
PY - 1998/10/1
Y1 - 1998/10/1
N2 - We present high-resolution CO images of the Galactic center region taken with the 2 × 2 focal-plane array receiver mounted on the 45 m telescope of Nobeyama Radio Observatory. We have collected about 44,000 12C16O (J = 1-0) spectra and over 13,000 13C16O (J = 1-0) spectra with a 34″ (1.4 pc) grid spacing. The 12CO mapping area is roughly - 1°.5 ≤ l ≤ + 3°.4 and -0°.6 ≤ b ≤ +0°.6, which covers almost the full extent of the molecular gas concentration in the Galactic center. These CO images demonstrate extremely complex distribution and kinematics of molecular gas in the Galactic center. While its large-scale behavior can be attributed to the well-known coherent features, bright CO emission arises from a number of compact (d ≤ 10 pc) clouds with large velocity widths (ΔV ≥ 30 km s-1). The small-scale structure of molecular gas is characterized by filaments, arcs, and shells. The boisterous molecular gas kinematics there may be a result of violent release of kinetic energy by a number of supernova explosions and/or Wolf-Rayet stellar winds.
AB - We present high-resolution CO images of the Galactic center region taken with the 2 × 2 focal-plane array receiver mounted on the 45 m telescope of Nobeyama Radio Observatory. We have collected about 44,000 12C16O (J = 1-0) spectra and over 13,000 13C16O (J = 1-0) spectra with a 34″ (1.4 pc) grid spacing. The 12CO mapping area is roughly - 1°.5 ≤ l ≤ + 3°.4 and -0°.6 ≤ b ≤ +0°.6, which covers almost the full extent of the molecular gas concentration in the Galactic center. These CO images demonstrate extremely complex distribution and kinematics of molecular gas in the Galactic center. While its large-scale behavior can be attributed to the well-known coherent features, bright CO emission arises from a number of compact (d ≤ 10 pc) clouds with large velocity widths (ΔV ≥ 30 km s-1). The small-scale structure of molecular gas is characterized by filaments, arcs, and shells. The boisterous molecular gas kinematics there may be a result of violent release of kinetic energy by a number of supernova explosions and/or Wolf-Rayet stellar winds.
KW - Galaxy: center
KW - Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
KW - ISM: molecules
KW - Surveys
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032336112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032336112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/313138
DO - 10.1086/313138
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0032336112
VL - 118
SP - 455
EP - 515
JO - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
JF - Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
SN - 0067-0049
IS - 2
ER -