CO Observations of Southern High-Latitude Clouds
Abstract
Results from a survey of 2.6 mm emission in the J = 1 to 0 transition of CO of clouds are reported for 15 high Galactic latitude clouds and three clouds located on the fringe of a large molecular cloud in the Chameleon dark cloud complex. The line widths, excitation temperatures, sizes, and n(CO)/N(H2) ratio of these clouds are similar to those seen in dark clouds. The densities, extinctions, and masses of the high-latitude clouds are one order of magnitude less than those found in dark clouds. For its size and velocity dispersion, the typical cloud has a mass of at least 10 times less than that needed to bind the cloud by self-gravity alone. External pressures are needed to maintain the typical cloud in equilibrium, and these values are consistent with several estimates of the intercloud pressure.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- May 1986
- DOI:
- 10.1086/164181
- Bibcode:
- 1986ApJ...304..466K
- Keywords:
-
- Carbon Monoxide;
- Interstellar Gas;
- Molecular Clouds;
- Gravitation;
- Milky Way Galaxy;
- Southern Sky;
- Virial Theorem;
- Astrophysics;
- INTERSTELLAR: MOLECULES