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The Bell Laboratories CO Survey: Star Formation in Spiral Arms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

A. A. Stark ,
J. Bally ,
G. R. Knapp ,
A. Krahnert ,
A. A. Penzias  and
R. W. Wilson
A. A. Stark
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA
J. Bally
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA
G. R. Knapp
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA
A. Krahnert
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA
A. A. Penzias
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA
R. W. Wilson
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Crawford Hill Laboratory, Holmdel, NJ 07733, USA

Abstract

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We present a galactic survey which to date consists of 47,000 positions covering −3° < l < 122°, −1° < b < 1°, observed in the J= 1→ 0 line of 13CO to an rms noise level of 0.15 K in 0.68 km s−1 channels, using the 7 m antenna at Crawford Hill. Maps made from the survey data show a clear difference between spiral arm and interarm regions. The signature of spiral structure on kiloparsec scales is the presence in galactic survey data of voids in l, b, v space which contain many times fewer Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) than do adjacent regions of similar size. The difference between arm and interarm regions in the inner galaxy is manifested only in the GMCs — small clouds are present throughout. These results are based on catalogs of clouds and their estimated sizes in 13CO. We suggest that GMCs are formed as interstellar gas enters a spiral arm, and that they break up into small molecular or atomic clouds as the gas leaves the arm.

Type
II. Large Scale Processes of Star Formation
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 115: Star Forming Regions , 1987 , pp. 495 - 499
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1987 

References

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