Spectral and spatial resolution of the 12. 8 -. mu. Ne II emission from the galactic center

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:7137183

Wollman, E R; Geballe, T R; Lacy, J H; Townes, C H; Rank, D M

High-resolution spectra of the Ne II 12.8-..mu.. fine-structure line in emission from the galactic center cloud Sgr A West show a line-center LSR radial velocity of +75 +- 20 km/s and a velocity dispersion of about 200 km/s. The line has been observed with spectral resolution as high as 0.10/cm and spatial resolution as high as 8''. This appears to provide a direct measurement of conditions in the 45''. ionized region at the galactic center. The radial velocity and dispersion are more or less independent of position, and indicate that events as recent as the last 4 million years have given the ionized gas a systematic motion with respect to the massive stellar component of material at the galactic center. An upper limit for the mass approximately equal to four million times the solar mass was obtained from the velocity distribution, with the mass located within 0.8 pc of the galactic center. . (auth)

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7137183
• Report Number(s): N-76-11928; NASA-CR-145629
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
EMISSION SPECTRA
FINE STRUCTURE
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GASES
INFRARED SPECTRA
IONIZED GASES
IONS
MASS
MILKY WAY
NEON IONS
RADIAL VELOCITY
RED SHIFT
SPECTRA
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
VELOCITY