Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:09:57.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Molecular clouds in external galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Judith S. Young
Judith S. Young*
Affiliation:
Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory, U. of Massachusetts

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Observations of the large-scale distribution of molecular clouds in external galaxies offer a unique opportunity for investigating galactic evolution. New generations of stars form in these dense regions, and the most massive of these stars recycle their processed interiors into the interstellar medium. Early observations of the CO distribution in the Milky Way (Scoville and Solomon 1975; Burton and Gordon 1976) indicated that there is intense emission at the center of our Galaxy, very little gas between 1 and 4 kpc radius, and a “molecular ring” feature between 4 and 8 kpc. Observations of molecular clouds in external galaxies of a variety of Hubble types and luminosities will enable us to more clearly understand the origin of this distribution. Although no other galaxies are observed to contain CO distributions precisely like that in the Milky Way, the differences which are present provide important clues to the structure and evolution of galaxies.

Type
PART II: COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE AND KINEMATICS
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 106: The Milky Way Galaxy , 1985 , pp. 183 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1985 

References

References

Brady, E., and Young, J.S.: 1982, B.A.A.S., 14, 661 Google Scholar
Burton, W.B., and Gordon, M.A.: 1976, Ap. J. (Letters), 207, L189 Google Scholar
Elmegreen, B.G., Elmegreen, D.M., and Morris, M.: 1980, Ap. J., 240, 455 Google Scholar
Rickard, L.J., Palmer, P., Morris, M., Turner, B.E., and Zuckerman, B.: 1977, Ap. J., 213, 673 Google Scholar
Rogstad, D.H., and Shostak, G.S.: 1972, Ap. J., 176, 315 Google Scholar
Scoville, N.Z., and Solomon, P.M.: 1975, Ap. J. (Letters), 199, L105 Google Scholar
Scoville, N.Z., and Young, J.S.: 1983, Ap. J., 265, 148 Google Scholar
Stark, A.A.: 1982, in Proceedings of Workshop on Extragalactic Molecules, ed. Blitz, and Kutner, , p. 77 Google Scholar
Young, J.S., and Scoville, N.Z.: 1982a, Ap. J., 258, 467 Google Scholar
Young, J.S., and Scoville, N.Z.: 1982b, Ap. J. (Letters), 260, L41 Google Scholar
Young, J.S., and Scoville, N.Z.: 1982c, Ap. J. (Letters), 260, L11 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, J.S., Tacconi, L., and Scoville, N.Z.: 1983, Ap. J., 269, 136 Google Scholar

REFERENCES TO DISCUSSION:

Smith, H.E.: 1975, Astrophys. J. 199, 591 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, P.M., Barrett, J., Sanders, D.B., de Zafra, R.: 1983, Astrophys. J. (Letters) 266, L103 Google Scholar
Morris, M. and Rickard, L. J: 1982, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 20, 517 Google Scholar