Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81

Details Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81 Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81

Dec 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995aas...187.4510a&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 187th AAS Meeting, #45.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 27, p.1348

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We compare the details of the distributions of HI, Hα , and far-UV emission in the spiral arms of M81, at a resolution of about 9'' (linear resolution 150 pc at 3.7 Mpc distance). The effects of extinction on the morphology of the Hα and far-UV are shown to be essentially bi-modal, i.e. the extinction is either very small or very large. The observed structures can be understood if ``chimneys'' are common in the spiral arms of M81, where holes are blown out of the galactic disk by star-formation activity similar to that discovered above the Galactic HII region IC1805 by Dewdney and his collaborators at DRAO. We propose further that H2 is turned into HI on a large scale by UV photons impinging on the (rough) surfaces of these chimneys, analogous to the situation proposed to explain the morphology of the Galactic star-forming region G216-2.5 by Williams & Maddalena. In this picture, most of the atomic hydrogen in the inner spiral arms of M81 is UV-dissociated molecular hydrogen from an underlying (and as yet largely undetected) reservoir of molecular gas.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1253956