MID-IR FORCAST/SOFIA OBSERVATIONS OF M82

Journal Article · Fri Apr 20 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/749/2/L19· OSTI ID:22047903

Nikola, T; Herter, T L; Adams, J D; Gull, G E; Henderson, C P; Schoenwald, J; Stacey, G ^[1]; Vacca, W D; De Buizer, J M ^[2]; Keller, L D ^[3]; Morris, M R ^[4]; Tielens, A ^[5]

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1. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
2. Universities Space Research Association, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 211-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850 (United States)
4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States)
5. Leiden Observatory, P.O. Box 9513, Leiden, 2300 RA (Netherlands)

We present 75'' Multiplication-Sign 75'' size maps of M82 at 6.4 {mu}m, 6.6 {mu}m, 7.7 {mu}m, 31.5 {mu}m, and 37.1 {mu}m with a resolution of {approx}4'' that we have obtained with the mid-IR camera FORCAST on SOFIA. We find strong emission from the inner 60'' ({approx}1 kpc) along the major axis, with the main peak 5'' west-southwest of the nucleus and a secondary peak 4'' east-northeast of the nucleus. The detailed morphology of the emission differs among the bands, which is likely due to different dust components dominating the continuum emission at short mid-IR wavelengths and long mid-IR wavelengths. We include Spitzer-IRS and Herschel/PACS 70 {mu}m data to fit spectral energy distribution templates at both emission peaks. The best-fitting templates have extinctions of A{sub V} = 18 and A{sub V} = 9 toward the main and secondary emission peak and we estimated a color temperature of 68 K at both peaks from the 31 {mu}m and 37 {mu}m measurement. At the emission peaks the estimated dust masses are on the order of 10{sup 4} M{sub Sun }.

• OSTI ID: 22047903
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 749; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
CAMERAS
COLOR
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
INFRARED SPECTRA
INFRARED SPECTROMETERS
INTERMEDIATE INFRARED RADIATION
MASS
MORPHOLOGY
PHOTON EMISSION
RESOLUTION
SECONDARY EMISSION
WAVELENGTHS