Abstract
The large scale kinematics and physical characteristics of the interstellar gas within the innermost few 100 pc of the galactic center is discussed. A major fraction of the total of −108 Mo of dense gas, representing −10% of the Galaxy’s neutral mass, resides in a number of giant (−100 pc sized) molecular cloud complexes. In comparison with the galactic disk, these clouds reveal outstanding physical and chemical characteristics. Pervasive high temperatures (<Tk>−70 K), linewidths (≥10–20 kms−1) and densities (<n>−104 cm−3) seem related to the clouds’ location (tidal stresses) in the steep gravitational potential of the central stellar cluster.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Güsten, R. (1989). The galactic center—A larger scale view. In: The Physics and Chemistry of Interstellar Molecular Clouds: mm and Sub-mm Observations in Astrophysics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 331. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0119471
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0119471
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