The M(17)SW molecular source - internally or externally heated?

Chown, M. P.; Beckman, J. E.; Cronin, N. J. and White, G. J. (1982). The M(17)SW molecular source - internally or externally heated? In: Beckman, J. E. and Phillips, J. P. eds. Submillimetre Wave Astronomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 159–165.

URL: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982smwa.book..159C

Abstract

From a measurement of the J = 3→2 rotational emission line of hydrogen isocyanide, and a literature value for that J = 1→0 line (Snell, 1979), the excitation parameters for HNC in the direction of the molecular peak as determined by CO were derived. Kinetic temperatures for the optically thick CO and ¹³CO transitions are ~ 50 K, while that pertaining to HNC line formation is between 20 K and 5 K. The inference that the central temperature of the cloud is lower than that of its surface supports models in which the cloud is heated not from within, but by the O-B association to the northwest.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 33798
• Item Type
• Book Section
• ISBN
• 0-521-24733-0, 978-0-521-24733-7
• Keywords
• astronomical spectroscopy; gas heating; molecular clouds; carbon monoxide; density distribution; gas temperature
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Physical Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Copyright Holders
• © 1982 Not known
• Depositing User
• G. J. White