The gas/dust ratio in spiral galaxies
- Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory, Amherst, MA (USA)
IRAS data are used here to calculate warm dust masses, which are then compared with the molecular and atomic gas masses for 58 spiral galaxies in order to constrain the fraction and the phase of the interstellar medium in spiral galaxies that contributes to the emission measured by IRAS. The dispersion in the ratio of dust mass to total gas mass is larger than expected on the basis of measurement errors. The dispersion in the ratio of dust mass to inner disk gas mass is less than the dispersion in the ratio of IR to radio emission. The inner gas to warm dust mass ratio for spiral galaxies is 1080 + or - 70, indicating that 80-90 percent of the dust mass in spiral galaxies is radiating at over 100 microns and has a temperature less than about 30 K. However, the bulk of the dust in spiral galaxies is less than about 15 K regardless of the phase of the ISM. Both H I and H2-associated dust contributes to the warm 30 K emission. 82 refs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6479093
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal; (USA), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; (USA) Vol. 359; ISSN ASJOA; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CONFIGURATION
COSMIC DUST
COSMIC GASES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DUSTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GASES
H1 REGIONS
INFRARED RADIATION
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
MASS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIATIONS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SATELLITES
SPACE
SPIRAL CONFIGURATION