Physical Properties of Galactic Star Forming Region W51
Abstract
The NRAO Green Bank Telescope (GBT) K-band Focal Plane Array (KFPA) was commissioned in 2011. The first commissioning observations with the KFPA yielded exciting discoveries of the properties of molecular clouds in our galaxy. We present observations of the ammonia (NH3) (J,K) = (1,1), (2,2), (4,4), (5,5) and (6,6) inversion lines toward the molecular cloud W51 using the GBT. We report the first detection of maser emission in the (J,K) = (6,6) inversion transition. The integrated line intensity maps are used to compute physical temperatures of the region. We find that the active star formation in several regions within W51 is warming the environment and causing a wide range of temperatures and densities.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #219
- Pub Date:
- January 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AAS...21934922C