Characterizing Filamentary Structure in Images from an HST-NICMOS Paschen Alpha Survey of the Galactic Center

Details Characterizing Filamentary Structure in Images from an HST-NICMOS Paschen Alpha Survey of the Galactic Center Characterizing Filamentary Structure in Images from an HST-NICMOS Paschen Alpha Survey of the Galactic Center

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21341611m&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #416.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.228

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present images from a large-scale Paschen alpha survey of the Galactic center undertaken with NICMOS on HST. The area mapped extends 30' in Galactic longitude and 10' in Galactic latitude, or 75 x 25 parsecs assuming a galactocentric distance of 8.0 kpc. Regions covered in this field include the entire Sgr A complex, the radio Arc, and the two starburst clusters the Quintuplet and Arches, as well as the areas they ionize. The sub-arcsecond resolution of these data over this large field allows for unprecedented study of the detailed morphology of the active and complex environment in the nucleus of our Galaxy. We focus our analysis on the structure in the gas ionized by the Arches and Quintuplet clusters- the Arched filaments and the Sickle, respectively. In particular we concentrate on characterizing the highly organized, fine-scale filamentation seen in these areas. This filamentation appears to be oriented along the direction of the local magnetic field, as measured by polarization studies. We are developing an approach based on shifting and correlating subimages of this region to yield a quantitative analysis of the properties of this filamentation: its strength, orientation, and spacing. We will compare the results from this code to theoretical treatments of filamentation to address its characteristic size scales, and the relation of the filamentation to the properties of the ambient magnetic field and the location of ionizing sources.

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