A wide-latitude CO survey of molecular clouds in the northern Milky Way
T. M. Dame, P. Thaddeus;
ApJ, 1985, 297, 751
ABSTRACT:A wide-latitude, low angular resolution survey of CO along most of the first Galactic
quadrant and part of the second was undertaken in order to investigate molecular
clouds associated with the Great Rift and the diffuse component of Galactic
gamma rays.
The main nearby clouds have masses between a few times 10,000 and
a few times 100,000 solar masses, versus a few times a million solar
masses for the largest complexes elsewhere.
The CO emission in the survey
comes nearly equally from local clouds associated with the Great Rift and
from distant clouds in the inner arms of the Galaxy 4-7 kpc from the Galactic
center.
The half-thickness at half-intensity of the local molecular cloud layer
is greater than 50 pc and is estimated to be 75 + or - 25 pc.
The results
strongly support the notion that all dark nebulae are molecular clouds, and
vice-versa.
KEYWORDS: carbon monoxide, galactic structure, interstellar matter, milky way galaxy, molecular clouds, astronomical maps, mass, molecular spectra, nebulae
PERSOKEY:co, milky way, h2, ,
CODE: dame85