Aperture Synthesis Maps of CO Emission from M51

Abstract

7"-resolution maps of CO emission from the central 2' of M51 have been made with the Owens Valley millimeter-wave interferometer. Relative warm gas from giant molecular clouds is seen largely confined to arms coincident with the dust lanes, forming coherent structure on the scale of ~3 Kpc. There is a minimum of CO emission within 400 pc of the center. Integrated CO intensity maps are presented. Non-circular motion of the CO gas is evident from the velocity field.

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