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Molecules and Dust in the Magellanic Clouds
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Extract
A variety of studies over the last decade has shown molecular hydrogen to be a major constituent of the interstellar medium both in our Galaxy and in other spiral galaxies (Morris and Rickard, 1982). Our Galaxy contains roughly M(H2) = 4 × 109 M⊙; between R = 2 kpc and R = 10 kpc the H2 mass is one to three times that of HI; at the solar circle about 12 per cent of the total disk mass is in the form of H2; most of this mass is in the form of several thousand giant molecular cloud complexes (GMCs) with sizes d > 20 pc and masses M(H2) > 105 MO (Cohen et al, 1980; Sanders, 1981; Dame, 1983). These GMCs mainly consist of clumps with much smaller scales of order a few pc or less (e.g. Bally and Israel, 1983). Apart from their contribution to the total mass of the galactic interstellar medium, molecular clouds are also important as they are the major birthsite of massive early-type stars (see the review by Habing and Israel, 1979).
- Type
- Interstellar Matter
- Information
- Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 108: Structure and Evolution of the Magellanic Clouds , 1984 , pp. 319 - 332
- Copyright
- Copyright © Reidel 1984