CO 1 - 0 and CS 2 - 1 observations of the neutral disk around the Galactic Center.
Abstract
The CO J = 1-0 emission from a 2arcmin×6arcmin region at the center of our galaxy has been mapped with 21arcsec resolution using the IRAM 30-m telescope. Additional spectra have been measured in the CS J = 2-1 line. The spectra contain numerous velocity features, among them emission from the molecular material within 10 pc of the galactic center (the "neutral disk"). The observations of the neutral disk are consistent with an inclined disk orbiting about the galactic center in a close to circular orbit. At radii greater than ≡3 pc, a constant rotational velocity is seen, implying an enclosed mass which increases approximately proportional to radius, as M = (2.8±0.9)×106rpcM_sun;. It thus seems likely that the central stellar cluster dominates the mass distribution beyond a radius of ≡2 to 3 pc.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- November 1986
- Bibcode:
- 1986A&A...169...85S
- Keywords:
-
- Carbon Monoxide;
- Emission Spectra;
- Galactic Nuclei;
- Milky Way Galaxy;
- Circular Orbits;
- Galactic Rotation;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Star Clusters;
- Sulfides;
- Astrophysics