M51: Molecular spiral arms, GMAs and superclouds

Computer Science

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Carbon Monoxide, Cosmic Dust, Microwave Interferometers, Molecular Clouds, Radio Emission, Spiral Galaxies, Charge Coupled Devices, Millimeter Waves, Mosaics, Spectra, Stellar Mass

Scientific paper

Researchers present an aperture synthesis image of M51 in the CO 1 to 0 line at 9 seconds x 7 seconds resolution made with the Owens Valley Millimeter Interferometer. The image is a mosaic of 30 one-arcminute fields. The image shows narrow spiral arms which are coincident with the optical dust lanes and non-thermal radio emission, but are offset from the ridges of H alpha emission. Many dense concentrations of CO emission, termed Giant Molecular Associations (GMAs), are seen both along and between the arms. The typical GMA mass is about 3 times 107 solar mass. Most of the on-arm GMAs appear to be gravitationally bound. These GMAs consist of several spectral components (Molecular Superclouds) with typical mass 107 solar mass, which also appear to be bound. The observed streaming motions in the GMAs are consistent with density wave theory. The interarm GMAs are not gravitationally bound, and are likely to be due to a secondary compression of the density wave.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

M51: Molecular spiral arms, GMAs and superclouds 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 M51: Molecular spiral arms, GMAs and superclouds, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and M51: Molecular spiral arms, GMAs and superclouds will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1096078

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.