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Two New Views of the Galactic Center

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

D.T. Jaffe ,
R. Plume  and
S. Pak
D.T. Jaffe
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712 USA
R. Plume
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712 USA
S. Pak
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712 USA

Extract

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The inner few hundred parsecs of the Galactic Center contains ∼10% of the molecular ISM in the Galaxy. The conditions in this gas are significantly different from those in molecular clouds elsewhere in the Galaxy. Typical temperatures, densities, and internal velocity dispersions are higher (Güesten 1989). There is also evidence for a large amount of molecular gas which is not bound to distinct clouds (Stark et al. 1989). High velocity bulk gas motions and velocity discontinuities open up the possibility of a role for powerful large-scale shocks in ISM excitation. The very different nature of the dense ISM in the inner Galaxy make it useful as a laboratory for physical effects in the interstellar medium and a proving ground for ideas about the interaction of gas and stars in the nuclei of other galaxies.

Type
Chapter 3: What is the Nature of the Center of the Galaxy?
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 169: Unsolved Problems of the Milky Way , 1996 , pp. 283 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1996 

References

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Stark, A.A., Bally, J., Wilson, R.W., & Pound, M.W. 1989, in IAU 136, The Center of the Galaxy, ed Morris, M., 129 Google Scholar