Other
Scientific paper
Sep 1991
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991mnras.252p...6s&link_type=abstract
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 252, Sept. 1, 1991, p. 6P-11P. Research supported by SE
Other
20
Galactic Nuclei, Interstellar Gas, Molecular Gases, Starburst Galaxies, Submillimeter Waves, Cosmic Dust, Hydrogen, Signal To Noise Ratios, Spatial Resolution
Scientific paper
This paper presents 450-micron continuum observations of M82 at high signal-to-noise and spatial resolution. The present 1-arcmin scan along the major axis shows a main peak SW of the nucleus with a secondary peak to the NW. This morphology differs from that of (C-12)O J = 1-0 at the same resolution, but is quite similar to that of optically thin (C-13)O and (C-18)O. The present 450-micron data are used to evaluate the CO to H2 conversion factor, N(H2)/ICO, and it is found that it varies along the major axis and is up to a factor of 3 lower than the Milky Way Value, suggesting that the galactic conversion factor may overestimate N(H2) in 'starburst' galaxies. Recent multitransition observations of CO and other molecules in M82 point towards a clumpy disturbed interstellar medium subject to intense UV fields, in which it is unlikely that the (C-12)O reliably traces molecular hydrogen. Dust continuum observations, on the other hand, offer a far more direct and straightforward tracer of H2, that does not depend so critically on the excitation and chemistry of the interstellar medium.
Brand Peter W. J. L.
Mountain Charles M.
Nakai Noriyuki
Puxley Phil J.
Smith Arthur P.
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