Carbon monoxide in the Galaxy. III. The overall nature of its distribution in the equatorial plane.
Abstract
The distribution and kinematics of cold, compressed matter along the equatorial plane of the Galaxy have been studied through observations of the 2.6-mm rotational transition of CO. Variations in the CO terminal velocities from the basic circular rotation occur with the same location, amplitude, and length scale as H I variations. The majority of the dark clouds observed in the 2.6-mm CO emission lie between four and eight kpc from the galactic center, while 36% of the H I distribution lies in that annulus. A stochastic model is devised to explain the CO radial and longitudinal abundances, terminal velocities, the cloud random motions, and the variable cloud separations.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- February 1978
- Bibcode:
- 1978A&A....63....7B
- Keywords:
-
- Carbon Monoxide;
- Galactic Nuclei;
- Galactic Radiation;
- Hydrogen Clouds;
- Interstellar Gas;
- Molecular Rotation;
- Abundance;
- Astronomical Models;
- Emission Spectra;
- Hydrogen Atoms;
- Molecular Spectra;
- Stochastic Processes;
- Astrophysics;
- Carbon Monoxide:Interstellar Matter;
- Galactic Rotation;
- Galaxy:Interstellar Matter