High-resolution observation of gamma-radiation from the galactic plane.

It is shown that the gamma radiation emitted from the galactic plane in the direction of the center is predominantly confined to an approximately 3 deg wide band lying along the equator. Additional data analyzed from the same experiment are consistent with this finding. The narrow emission region implies that a dominant part of these galactic photons are either generated at distance 4 kpc from earth or that they are not produced uniformly across the assumed approximately 220 pc thick disk. Implications of this result for models describing the gamma ray emissivity of the galaxy are discussed. Data continue to provide evidence for an enhanced emission from the plane in the interval 350 deg 1 to the 11th power 360 deg. Evidence is also presented for the existence of a soft component of galactic photons which dominates over the neutral pions decay gamma rays below 50 MeV. Plans to fly a modified version of this experiment are discussed.