Galactic center molecular clouds. II - Distribution and kinematics
Abstract
This is a study of the kinematics and distribution of molecular gas near the Galactic center, observed in a variety of millimeter-wave spectral lines. The molecular component is asymmetric with respect to the dynamical center of the Galaxy; about three-fourths of the 13CO and CS emission is produced at positive longitudes and a different three-fourths of the gas is at positive velocities with respect to vLSR = 0 km s-1. The velocity field of the gas is highly chaotic, with some clouds having large (>100 km s-1) departures from the velocity pattern expected from purely circular orbits; however, most of the gas (70%) lies in a thin sheet in the Galactic plane. The rotation curve of the gas varies from vrot ≈ 200 km s-1 at l = 5° to no less than vrot ≈ 120 km s-1 near l = 0°. Simple models of the mass distribution within the inner Galaxy are used to compare the observed scale height of the gas with the predicted scale height as a function of galactocentric radius.
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A molecular bubble was observed within the central degrees, coinciding with the shape of the radio bubbles and with the Polar Arc.
“Recently a molecular bubble was also observed within the central degrees, coinciding with the shape of the radio bubbles (panel d in figure 7; Veena et al. 2023) and with the Polar Arc (Bally et al. 1988).”
From The Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way (2024) · cites this paper as Bally et al. 1988
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Veilleux, S., Cecil, G. N., & Bland‐Hawthorn, J. (2005) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.43.072103.150610 · Cited by 1,464 · see citing works
THE GALACTIC CENTER ENVIRONMENT
Morris, M., & Serabyn, E. (1996) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.34.1.645 · Cited by 930 · see citing works
“This cloud population (which includes the familiar clouds associated with the Sgr A–Sgr E H II regions) lies quite close to the true Galactic plane and is referred to as the Galactic center “disk population” (Bally et al 1988, Heiligman 1987).”
BackgroundInfluentialHCN Survey of Normal Spiral, Infrared‐luminous, and Ultraluminous Galaxies
Gao, Y., & Solomon, P. M. (2004) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/383003 · Cited by 499 · see citing works
“…attempts in Galactic plane HCN, CS, and CO observations (Helfer & Blitz 1997b; McQuinn et al. 2002 and references therein), only the central region of the Galaxy has been extensively mapped with dense molecular gas tracers (e.g., CS, Bally et al. 1987, 1988; HCN, Jackson et al. 1996; Lee 1996).”
BackgroundMolinari, S., Bally, J., Noriega-Crespo, A., Compiègne, M., Bernard, J. P., Paradis, D., Martin, P., Testi, L., Barlow, M., Moore, T., et al. (2011) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/735/2/l33 · Cited by 357 · see citing works
“(Bally et al. 1988, Morris & Serabyn 1996).”
Self-citationThe Equilibrium State of Molecular Regions in the Outer Galaxy
Heyer, M., Carpenter, J., & Snell, R. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/320218 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
“There are massive giant molecular clouds near the Galactic Center with large mean densities (Bally et al. 1988), highly excited molecular gas associated with ionization fronts and supernova remnants (Elmegreen & Lada 1977), quiescent clouds and globules (Clemens & Barvainis 1988), and diffuse, high…”
BackgroundThe Large‐Scale Bipolar Wind in the Galactic Center
Bland‐Hawthorn, J., & Cohen, M. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/344573 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
“Large radial and vertical motions are apparent in about a third of the CMZ gas (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundWhat controls star formation in the central 500 pc of the Galaxy?
Kruijssen, J. M. D., Longmore, S. N., Elmegreen, B. G., Murray, N., Bally, J., Testi, L., & Kennicutt, R. C. (2014) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu494 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
“Because the turbulent pressure in the CMZ is remarkably high (e.g. Bally et al. 1988), withPturb = nσ2 ∼ 10−6 erg cm−3, an important constraint is that potential star formation inhibitors should be able to compete with the turbulence.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationThe Physical Properties of theMidcourse Space ExperimentGalactic Infrared‐dark Clouds
Carey, S., Clark, F. O., Egan, M. P., et al. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/306438 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Kruijssen, J. M. D., Dale, J., & Longmore, S. (2014) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stu2526 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
“The gas often harbours multiple velocity components along the lineof sight (e.g. Bally et al. 1988; Morris & Serabyn 1996).”
BackgroundResultGas dynamics and large-scale morphology of the Milky Way galaxy
Englmaier, P., & Gerhard, O. (1999) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02280.x · Cited by 244 · see citing works
“Three-quarters of the 13CO and CS emission comes from positive longitudes and a different three-quarters comes from material at positive velocities (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundMethodA Large‐Scale CO Survey of the Galactic Center
Oka, T., Hasegawa, T., Sato, F., Tsuboi, M., & Miyazaki, A. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/313138 · Cited by 242 · see citing works
Dense Molecular Clouds in the Galactic Center Region. I. Observations and Data
Tsuboi, M., Handa, T., & Ukita, N. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/313165 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
“The l-direction asymmetry has been recognized in previous works (see, e.g., Bania 1977 ; & Downes 1981 ; LisztGu sten et al. 1977 ; Burton & Liszt 1983, 1992 ; Bally et al. 1988 ; etc.).”
MethodResultCOBEFar Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer Observations of Galactic Lines
Fixsen, D. J., Bennett, C. L., & Mather, J. C. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/307962 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
“Bally et al. (1988) found that in the Galactic center region the low-lying rotational CO lines are optically very thick.”
BackgroundMethodMolecular gas kinematics within the central 250 pc of the Milky Way
Henshaw, J. D., Longmore, S. N., Kruijssen, J. M. D., Davies, B., Bally, J., Barnes, A. T., Battersby, C., Burton, M., Cunningham, M., Dale, J. E., et al. (2016) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stw121 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
“This was originally referred to as the “polar arc” in Bally et al. (1988), who noted that the feature is inclined by > 40◦ with respect to the Galactic plane.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationSpatial distribution of interstellar gas in the innermost 3 kpc of our galaxy
Ferrière, K., Gillard, W., & Jean, P. (2007) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066992 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
“…itself contains a ring-like feature with mean radius ∼ 180 pc, now known as the 180-pc molecular ring, and, deeper inside, a thin sheet populated by dense molecular clouds, known as the GC disk population or the GC molec- Send offprint requests to: K. Ferrière ular disk (Bally et al. 1987, 1988).”
BackgroundInfluentialYusef-Zadeh, F., Hewitt, J. W., Arendt, R. G., Whitney, B., Rieke, G., Wardle, M., Hinz, J. L., Stolovy, S., Lang, C. C., Burton, M. G., et al. (2009) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/702/1/178 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
“Similar asymmetric structure is also noted in CS and CO line observations (Bally et al. 1988; Martin et al. 2004; Oka et al. 2005; Tsuboi et al. 1999).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialOka, T., Geballe, T. R., Goto, M., Usuda, T., & McCall, B. J. (2005) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/432679 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
“It was later also interpreted as part of a parallelogram by Binney et al. (1991) and as an Expanding Molecular Shell (EMS) by Sofue (1995) based on the radio 13CO observations by Bally et al. (1987, 1988).”
MethodSpatial distribution of interstellar gas in the innermost 3 kpc of our Galaxy
Ferrière, K., Gillard, W., & Jean, P. (2007) · Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20066992/pdf · Cited by 199 · see citing works
Genzel, R., Hollenbach, D., & Townes, C. H. (1994) · Reports on Progress in Physics · doi:10.1088/0034-4885/57/5/001 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Star formation rates and efficiencies in the Galactic Centre
Barnes, A. T., Longmore, S. N., Battersby, C., Bally, J., Kruijssen, J. M. D., Henshaw, J. D., & Walker, D. L. (2017) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx941 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
“Following the stream to higher galactic longitudes and velocities, and lower latitudes lies the mini-starburst complex Sgr B2 (e.g. Bally et al. 1988; Hasegawa et al. 1994; Sato et al. 2000).”
BackgroundSelf-citationSpectral imaging of the Central Molecular Zone in multiple 3-mm molecular lines
Jones, P., Burton, M. G., Cunningham, M., Requena-Torres, M., Menten, K., Schilke, P., Belloche, A., Leurini, S., Martín-Pintado, J., Ott, J., et al. (2011) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19941.x · Cited by 163 · see citing works
“The moleculardist ibution is most clearly traced by CO (e.g. Bally et al. 1987, 1988; Bitran et al. 1997; Oka et al. 1998; Dahmen et al. 1997; Oka et al. 2007; Martin et al. 2004), which shows high gas densities, large shear velocities in the Galactic Centre potential well withnoncircular motions,…”
BackgroundStatistical Properties of Molecular Clouds in the Galactic Center
Oka, T., Hasegawa, T., Sato, F., Tsuboi, M., Miyazaki, A., & Sugimoto, M. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/322976 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Gas Dynamics and Large-Scale Morphology of the Milky Way Galaxy
Englmaier, P., & Gerhard, O. (1998) · reroDoc Digital Library · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Oka, T., Hasegawa, T., Hayashi, M., Handa, T., & Sakamoto, S. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/305133 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
NuSTARSPECTROSCOPY OF MULTI-COMPONENT X-RAY REFLECTION FROM NGC 1068
Bauer, F. E., Arévalo, P., Walton, D. J., Koss, M., Puccetti, S., Gandhi, P., Stern, D., Alexander, D. M., Baloković, M., Boggs, S. E., et al. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/812/2/116 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
“…was purely based on instrumental reasons, and thus, if the distribution of cloudsis strongly centralized and goes roughly as 1/r or 1/r2 (e.g., Bally et al. 1988; Nenkova et al. 2008), then we might expect at least a fraction of the Fe Kα line flux currently assigned to the NH ≈ 1025 cm−2…”
BackgroundAbundances in the interstellar medium
Wilson, T. L., & Matteucci, F. (1992) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/bf00873568 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
Dense gas in luminous infrared galaxies
Baan, W. A., Henkel, C., Loenen, A. F., et al. (2007) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20077203 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
“…CS lines may be brightest toward starforming cores in regions of high volume-density, ubiquitous low-level CS emission, probably due to sub-thermally excited low-density gas, is found to dominate the emission from the inner Galaxy (McQuinn et al. 2002) and its central region (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundSelf-citationA dynamical model for the formation of gas rings and episodic starbursts near galactic centres
Krumholz, M. R., & Kruijssen, J. M. D. (2015) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1670 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
“In Kruijssen et al. (2014), it was proposed that the observed high turbulent pressure (σ ∼ 40 km s−1 and P/k ∼ 108 K cm−3, see e.g. Bally et al. 1988) and the correspondingly high Toomre stability parameter (Q ∼ 10) of the CMZ gas are responsible for the fact that the star formation rate in the CMZ…”
BackgroundYusef-Zadeh, F., Roberts, D. A., Goss, W. M., Frail, D. A., & Green, A. J. (1996) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/310165 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
“We believe that these emitting features are masers because their narrow line widths (11–3 km s21) are roughly an order of magnitude less than the line widths of molecular clouds in the Galactic center region (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundThe Properties of the Galactic Bar Implied by Gas Kinematics in the Inner Milky Way
Weiner, B. J., & Sellwood, J. A. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/307786 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
“However, the asymmetries in H I are considerably smaller than those in the CO l-V diagram (Dame et al. 1987 ; Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundMethodNuSTAR Spectroscopy of Multi-Component X-ray Reflection from NGC 1068
Bauer, F. E., Arévalo, P., Walton, D. J., et al. (2014) · Technical University of Denmark, DTU Orbit (Technical University of Denmark, DTU) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1411.0670 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
“…was purely based on instrumental reasons, and thus, if the distribution of cloudsis strongly centralized and goes roughly as 1/r or 1/r2 (e.g., Bally et al. 1988; Nenkova et al. 2008), then we might expect at least a fraction of the Fe Kα line flux currently assigned to the NH ≈ 1025 cm−2…”
BackgroundBally, J., Aguirre, J., Battersby, C., Bradley, E. T., Cyganowski, C., Dowell, D., Drosback, M., Dunham, M., Evans, N., Ginsburg, A., et al. (2010) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/721/1/137 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
“Second, most of the 1.1 mm emission in the CMZ closely follows the distribution of dense molecular gas traced by high-dipole moment molecules and the large line-width CO emission (Bally et al. 1987, 1988; Oka et al. 1998, 2001b).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationA molecular face-on view of the Galactic Centre region
Sawada, T., Hasegawa, T., Handa, T., & Cohen, R. J. (2004) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07603.x · Cited by 117 · see citing works
“The central molecular emission has a well-known asymmetry with respect to ℓ = 0◦: Bally et al. (1988) mentioned that about three-fourths of molecular (13CO and CS) emission comes from positive longitudes.”
BackgroundGas flow in barred potentials – III. Effects of varying the quadrupole
Sormani, M. C., Binney, J. J., & Magorrian, J. (2015) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2067 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
“3 gives the conventional names of the more important structures – more comprehensive lists of features can be found in, for example, Rougoor (1964); van der Kruit (1970); Cohen (1975); Bania (1977); Bally et al. (1988); Dame et al. (2001); Dame & Thaddeus (2008).”
BackgroundThe AST/RO Survey of the Galactic Center Region. I. The Inner 3 Degrees
Martin, C. L., Walsh, W., Xiao, K., Lane, A. P., Walker, C. K., & Stark, A. A. (2004) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/379661 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“Applying an LVG model to these da ta together with da ta from the Bell Labs 7-m (Bally et al. 1988) yields maps of gas density and tempera ture as a function of position and velocity for the entire region.”
MethodSelf-citationShetty, R., & Ostriker, E. C. (2012) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/754/1/2 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“In the Galactic center, molecular gas is much more prevalent (e.g. Bally et al. 1987, 1988), and ΣSFR is measured to be ∼1.5 dex higher than in the mid- to outer- disk (Yusef-Zadeh et al. 2009).”
BackgroundInfluentialOka, T. (2013) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr400266w · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Simulations of the Milky Way’s central molecular zone – I. Gas dynamics
Treß, R. G., Sormani, M. C., Glover, S. C. O., Klessen, R. S., Battersby, C., Clark, P. C., Hatchfield, H. P., & Smith, R. J. (2020) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/staa3120 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Henshaw, J. D., Ginsburg, A. G., Haworth, T. J., Longmore, S. N., Kruijssen, J. M. D., Mills, E. A. C., Sokolov, V., Walker, D. L., Barnes, A. T., Contreras, Y., et al. (2019) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stz471 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Self-citationJog, C. J., & Combes, F. (2009) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2008.12.002 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
“Our own Galaxy is a good example, since the molecular gas observations have revealed that the molecular nuclear disk has three quarters of its mass at positive longitude, which is obvious in the central positionvelocity diagram (the parallelogram, from Bally et al 1988).”
BackgroundSustained star formation in the central stellar cluster of the Milky Way
Serabyn, E., & Morris, M. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/382602a0 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
ASCA Observations of the Sagittarius B2 Cloud: An X-Ray Reflection Nebula
Murakami, H., Koyama, K., Sakano, M., Tsujimoto, M., & Maeda, Y. (1999) · Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/308717 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
“Figure 1 shows the narrow band SIS (a) image laid over the radio intensity contours of the CH3CN line (Bally et al. 1988) and the GIS (b) image.”
BackgroundThe Proper Motion of the Arches Cluster with Keck Laser‐Guide Star Adaptive Optics
Stolte, A., Ghez, A. M., Morris, M., Lu, J. R., Brandner, W., & Matthews, K. (2008) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/527027 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
“While CS is correlated with many of the intense CO peaks (Bally et al. 1988), CS clouds are more confined to the inner parts of the CMZ (rGC < 200 pc) and display maximum line-of-sight velocities vlos < 120 km/s.”
BackgroundOn the Formation of Compact Stellar Disks around Sagittarius A*
Wardle, M., & Yusef-Zadeh, F. (2008) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/591471 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
“The inner 200 pc of the Galaxy is rich in dense molecular clouds, many of which are on eccentric orbits (Bally et al. 1988; Oka et al. 1998; Martin et al. 2004).”
BackgroundQuiescent Giant Molecular Cloud Cores in the Galactic Center
Lis, D. C., Serabyn, E., Zylka, R., & Li, Y. (2001) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/319815 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
A theoretical explanation for the Central Molecular Zone asymmetry
Sormani, M. C., Treß, R. G., Ridley, M., Glover, S. C. O., Klessen, R. S., Binney, J. J., Magorrian, J., & Smith, R. J. (2017) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx3258 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
“Similar asymmetry can be detected in other molecular tracers such as 13CO and CS (e.g. Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundMolecular Loops in the Galactic Center: Evidence for Magnetic Flotation
Fukui, Y., Yamamoto, H., Fujishita, M., Kudo, N., Torii, K., Nozawa, S., Takahashi, K. T., Matsumoto, R., Machida, M., Kawamura, A., et al. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1130425 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
New constraints on a triaxial model of the Galaxy
Sevenster, M., Saha, P., Valls-Gabaud, D., et al. (1999) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02672.x · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“9) gives a similarly good and arguably better fit to the 3–kpc arm and the central CO kinematics (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundOka, T., Geballe, T. R., Goto, M., Usuda, T., Benjamin, J. M., & Indriolo, N. (2019) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab3647 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“Millimeter-wave line emission from HCN (e.g., Fukui et al. 1977; Jackson et al. 1996; Lee 1996), CS (e.g., Bally et al. 1988; Tsuboi et al. 1999; Lang et al. 2002), and SiO (e.g., Hüttemeister et al. 1998; Riquelme et al. 2010) molecules with large dipole moments (2.985, 1.958, and 3.098 D,…”
BackgroundInfluentialExtreme gas pressures in the galactic bulge
Spergel, D. N., & Blitz, L. (1992) · Nature · doi:10.1038/357665a0 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Traces of Past Activity in the Galactic Centre
Ponti, G., Morris, M. R., Terrier, R., & Goldwurm, A. (2013) · Astrophysics and space science proceedings · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-35410-6_26 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
“The MC in theCMZ differ considerably from those in the rest of the Galaxy, with higher gas temperatures (T ∼ 70 K; Gusten et al. 1981; Morris et al. 1983; Mauersberger et al.1986), highly supersonic internal velocities (>∼15− 50 km s −1) and higher densities (n ∼ 104 cm−3).”
BackgroundInfluentialDETECTION OF WIDESPREAD HOT AMMONIA IN THE GALACTIC CENTER
Mills, E. A. C., & Morris, M. R. (2013) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/772/2/105 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“Gas in Galactic center giant molecular clouds (GCMCs) is also more turbulent, as indicated by typical linewidths of 20− 30 km s−1 (Bally et al. 1988; Morris & Serabyn 1996).”
BackgroundInfluentialLang, C., Goss, W. M., & Morris, M. (2001) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/320373 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
“The CS emission in the inner 0.5- 1◦ from the survey of Bally et al. (1988) shows that the clouds in this region are elongated along the Galactic plane, whereas at 1.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialDense molecular gas in galactic nuclei
Henkel, C., Baan, W. A., & Mauersberger, R. (1991) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/bf00873457 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Self-citationYusef-Zadeh, F., Goss, W. M., Roberts, D. A., Robinson, B., & Frail, D. A. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/308087 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“Furthermore, the narrow line widths of a few km s~1 for the extended features are similar to the compact sources ; these line widths are an order of magnitude less than the line width of molecular clouds in the Galactic center region (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundAn, D., Ramírez, S., Sellgren, K., Arendt, R. G., Boogert, A. C. A., Robitaille, T., Schultheis, M., Cotera, A. S., Smith, H. A., & Stolovy, S. R. (2011) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/736/2/133 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
“The CMZ produces 5%–10% of the Galaxy’s infrared and Lyman continuum luminosity and contains 10% of its molecular gas (Smith et al. 1978; Nishimura et al. 1980; Bally et al. 1987, 1988; Morris & Serabyn 1996).”
BackgroundHCN and CO in the Central 630 Parsecs of the Galaxy
Jackson, J. M., Heyer, M. H., Paglione, T. A. D., & Bolatto, A. D. (1996) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/309865 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Submillimeter Polarimetric Observations of the Galactic Center
Novak, G., Dotson, J., Dowell, C. D., Hildebrand, R. H., Renbarger, T., & Schleuning, D. A. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/308231 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“(Note that the Ðlling factor estimated by Bally et al. 1988 is an in-plane areal Ðlling factor, but it should be comparable to the volume Ðlling factor because cloud sizes are comparable to the layer thickness.)”
BackgroundInfluentialNuclear spirals in the inner Milky Way
Ridley, M., Sormani, M. C., Treß, R. G., Magorrian, J., & Klessen, R. S. (2017) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx944 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“The kinematics show significant departures from circular motion, the molecular gas is strongly concentrated within the central degree, and emission is highly asymmetric about the Galactic Centre (GC) (e.g. Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundGas and Dust in the Inner Few Degrees of the Galaxy
Güsten, R. (1989) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-2362-1_11 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
86 GHz SiO maser survey of late-type stars in the Inner Galaxy
Messineo, M., Habing, H. J., Sjouwerman, L. O., et al. (2002) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20021017 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
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Shock-Excited OH Maser Emission Outlining the Galactic Center Supernova Remnant G359.1-0.05
Yusef-Zadeh, F., Uchida, K. I., & Roberts, D. A. (1995) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.270.5243.1801 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Observations of Absorption by Water Vapor toward Sagittarius B2
Neufeld, D. A., Ashby, M. L. N., Bergin, E. A., et al. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/312853 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
“…(1995) from absorption-line observations of HCN and H CN; and (3)13 that the mean foreground column density, averaged over a 19.6 (FWHM) beam used by Bally et al. (1988), is equal to the column density lying directly in front of the submillimeter continuum source (see Greaves & Williams 1994).”
BackgroundInfluentialKINEMATIC DETECTION OF THE GALACTIC NUCLEAR DISK
Schönrich, R. A., Aumer, M., & Sale, S. E. (2015) · The Astrophysical Journal Letters · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/812/2/l21 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“…photometry in this field is compromised by inhomogeneous extinction and crowding: the smaller extinction at negative longitudes, which is connected to the asymmetry of the CMZ (CMZ, Bally et al. 1988), and hence stronger crowding reduces the number of target candidates passing the quality criteria.”
BackgroundPolarized Far‐Infrared Emission from the Core and Envelope of the Sagittarius B2 Molecular Cloud
Novak, G., Dotson, J., Dowell, C. D., Goldsmith, P. F., Hildebrand, R. H., Platt, S. R., & Schleuning, D. A. (1997) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/304576 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Something about the structure of the Galaxy
Sevenster, M. N. (1999) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1999.02957.x · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“The observed CO parallelogram (Bally et al. 1988) was elegantly explained as the inner cusped x1 orbit by Binney et al. (1991).”
BackgroundLopsided spiral galaxiesPreprint
Bournaud, F., Combes, F., Jog, C. J., et al. (2005) · Cited by 54 · see citing works
The State of the Molecular Gas in a Luminous Starburst/Seyfert 2 Galaxy: NGC 1068 Revisited
Papadopoulos, P. P., & Seaquist, E. R. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/307090 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“A similar di†erentiation seems to be in place in the Milky Way (e.g., Bally et al. 1988 ; Stark et al. 1989, 1991 ; Binney et al. 1991 ; Spergel & Blitz 1992).”
BackgroundA survey of the Galactic center region in HCO+, H13CO+, and SiO
Riquelme, D., Bronfman, L., Mauersberger, R., May, J., & Wilson, T. L. (2010) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200913359 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
“Up to now, there are few complete maps in species that are less abundant than CO (e.g. CS: Bally et al. 1987, 1988; HNCO: Dahmen et al. 1997; NH3: Handa et al. 2006; OH: Boyce & Cohen 1994).”
BackgroundThe Galactic center chimneys: the base of the multiphase outflow of the Milky Way
Ponti, G., Morris, M. R., Churazov, E., Heywood, I., & Fender, R. P. (2021) · Astronomy & Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039636 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Is the Galactic Centre gamma-ray source 1E1740.7 – 2942 accreting from a molecular cloud?
Bally, J., & Leventhal, M. (1991) · Nature · doi:10.1038/353234a0 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationA HIGH-RESOLUTION SURVEY OF H I ABSORPTION TOWARD THE CENTRAL 200 pc OF THE GALACTIC CENTER
Lang, C. C., Goss, W. M., Cyganowski, C., & Clubb, K. I. (2010) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/191/2/275 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“In addition, the multitude of “forbidden” (e.g. sign opposite to galactic rotation) velocity components in the GC region are thought to represent the response of the molecular gas in the GC to the Galaxy’s strong stellar bar (Binney et al. 1991; Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundPhysical Conditions of the Molecular Gas in Seyfert Galaxies
Papadopoulos, P. P., & Seaquist, E. R. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/305052 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Coupling the dynamics and the molecular chemistry in the Galactic center
Rodríguez-Fernández, N. J., Combes, F., Martín-Pintado, J., et al. (2006) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20064813 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“The physical conditions of the neutral gas in the GC have been studied by observing high density tracers like CS (Bally et al. 1988; Tsuboi et al. 1999) or HCN (Jackson et al. 1996) and by multi-level studies of NH3 (Hüttemeister et al. 1998), H2 (Rodŕıguez-Fernández et al. 2001, 2004) or CO…”
MethodMeier, D., Turner, J., & Hurt, R. (2007) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/524932 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Bar Model for Maffei 2 The new CO P-V diagrams (Figure 10) have sufficient spatial resolution to reveal that the “oval”-shaped pattern is actually a “parallelogram” like that observed towards the Galactic Center (Bally et al. 1988; Binney et al. 1991).”
BackgroundInfluentialDeguchi, S., Fujii, T., Izumiura, H., et al. (2000) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.1086/313393 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
The Origin of the Galactic Center Nonthermal Radio Filaments: Young Stellar Clusters
Yusef‐Zadeh, F. (2003) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/378715 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“In addition, the gas clouds experience an unusually high tidal field in the environment of the Galactic center (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundLongmore, S. N., Walsh, A., Purcell, C. R., Burke, D. J., Henshaw, J. D., Walker, D. L., Urquhart, J. S., Barnes, A. T., Whiting, M. T., Burton, M., et al. (2017) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1226 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“This can lead to (sometimes severe) contamination when trying to isolate emission from gas in the Galactic Centre (for example, see Figure 4 in Bally et al. 1988) making it difficult to interpret the kinematics, especially at velocities close to VLSR ∼ 0 kms−1.”
BackgroundThe Dusty Galactic Center as Seen by SCUBA-2
Parsons, H. A. L., Dempsey, J. T., Thomas, H. S., Berry, D., Currie, M. J., Friberg, P., Wouterloot, J. G. A., Chrysostomou, A. C., Graves, S., Tilanus, R. P. J., et al. (2018) · The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series · doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aa989c · Cited by 42 · see citing works
High‐Density and High‐Temperature Circumnuclear Molecular Disk in M51
Matsushita, S., Kohno, K., Vila-Vilaró, B., et al. (1998) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/305261 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The geometry of the magnetic field in the central molecular zone measured by PILOT
Mangilli, A., Aumont, J., Bernard, J.-P., Buzzelli, A., de Gasperis, G., Durrive, J.-B., Ferrière, K., Foënard, G., Hughes, A., Lacourt, A., et al. (2019) · Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935072 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“In the plane of the sky, it extends out to r ∼ 250 pc at positive longitudes and to r ∼ 150 pc at negative longitudes, with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) thickness ∼30 pc (e.g. Heiligman 1987; Bally et al. 1988)1.”
BackgroundTraces of past activity in the galactic centre
Ponti, G., Morris, M., Terrier, R., & Goldwurm, A. (2013) · Max Planck Digital Library · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Tanaka, K., Kamegai, K., Nagai, M., & Oka, T. (2007) · Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan · doi:10.1093/pasj/59.2.323 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“One of the prominent high CO J=3–2/J=1–0 ratio clumps is CO 1.27+0.01 in the l =1.3◦ complex (also referred as ’l = 1.5◦ complex’; Bally et al. 1988; Oka et al. 2001), an unusual molecular feature with broad-velocity-width and a large latitudinal scale height.”
BackgroundInfluentialSynthetic observations of star formation and the interstellar medium
Haworth, T. J., Glover, S. C. O., Koepferl, C. M., Bisbas, T. G., & Dale, J. E. (2018) · New Astronomy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.newar.2018.06.001 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
CHIMPS2: survey description and 12CO emission in the Galactic Centre
Eden, D. J., Moore, T. J. T., Currie, M. J., Rigby, A. J., Rosolowsky, E. W., Su, Y., Kim, K., Parsons, H. A. L., Morata, Ó., Chen, H.-R., et al. (2020) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1093/mnras/staa2734 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“◦3 complex (Bally et al. 1988; Oka et al. 1998).”
Gas Density, Stability, and Starbursts near the Inner Lindblad Resonance of the Milky Way
Stark, A. A., Martin, C. L., Walsh, W., et al. (2004) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/425304 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“The distribution of molecular gas near the ILR is known from extensive surveys in CO and 13CO J = 1 → 0 and J = 2 → 1 (Bally et al. 1988; Bitran et al. 1997; Oka et al. 1998); these spectral lines show the presence of molecular gas.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationDavidge, T. J., & Courteau, S. (2002) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/338901 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Observational support of a disk origin for the star-forming material near the GC comes from the flattened nature of the CMZ, which also lies along the Galactic Plane (Bally et al. 1988), and abundance studies of young stars near the GC (Ramirez et al. 2000), although these measurements are restricted at present to Fe…”
BackgroundA High-Resolution Survey of HI Absorption toward the Central 200 pc of the Galactic CenterPreprint
Lang, C., Goss, W. M., Cyganowski, C. J., & Clubb, K. I. (2010) · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Something about the Structure of the GalaxyPreprint
Sevenster, M. N. (1999) · Cited by 40 · see citing works
86 GHz SiO maser survey of late-type stars in the Inner Galaxy. I. Observational data
Messineo, M., Habing, H. J., Sjouwerman, L. O., et al. (2002) · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0207284 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
The Galactic center chimneys: the base of the multiphase outflow of the Milky Way
Ponti, G., Morris, M., Churazov, E., Heywood, I., & Fender, R. P. (2021) · Springer Link (Chiba Institute of Technology) · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039636/pdf · Cited by 40 · see citing works
High resolution radio recombination line observations
Roelfsema, P. R., & Goss, W. M. (1992) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/bf00874056 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
A High‐Velocity Molecular Cloud near the Center of the Galaxy
Oka, T., White, G. J., Hasegawa, T., Sato, F., Tsuboi, M., & Miyazaki, A. (1999) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/307029 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“…Galactic center region has a highly complex spatial distribution and kinematic structure, which has led to the identiÐcation of remarkable variety of peculiar features (Bania 1977, 1980, 1986 ; Bally et al. 1987, 1988 ; Uchida et al. 1992, 1996 ; Burton & Liszt 1978, 1983, 1992 ; Oka et al. 1998b).”
BackgroundHigh-resolution CO images of the Galactic central molecular zone
Tokuyama, S., Oka, T., Takekawa, S., Iwata, Y., Tsujimoto, S., Yamada, M., Furusawa, M., & Nomura, M. (2018) · Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan · doi:10.1093/pasj/psy150 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Menten, K. M., Wilson, R. W., Leurini, S., & Schilke, P. (2009) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/692/1/47 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“6−0.0254 lies at the very easternmost longitude edge of the cloud complexes making up the CMZ that were mapped in CO, 13CO, C18O CS, and other molecules (Bally et al. 1987, 1988; Dahmen et al. 1997, 1998; Oka et al. 1998; Martin et al. 2004).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe Fermi/eROSITA bubbles: a look into the nuclear outflow from the Milky Way
Sarkar, K. C. (2024) · The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review · doi:10.1007/s00159-024-00152-1 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“Recently a molecular bubble was also observed within the central degrees, coinciding with the shape of the radio bubbles (panel d in figure 7; Veena et al. 2023) and with the Polar Arc (Bally et al. 1988).”
BackgroundGas and Dust in the Inner Few Degrees of the Galaxy
Güsten, R. (1989) · Symposium - International Astronomical Union · doi:10.1017/s0074180900186383 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
The geometry of the magnetic field in the central molecular zone measured by PILOT
Mangilli, A., Aumont, J., Bernard, J.-P., Buzzelli, A., de Gasperis, G., Durrive, J.-B., Ferrière, K., Foënard, G., Hughes, A., Lacourt, A., et al. (2019) · UCL Discovery (University College London) · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Gas Density, Stability, and Starbursts Near the Inner Lindblad Resonance of the Milky Way
Stark, A. A., Martin, C. L., Walsh, W. M., et al. (2004) · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Bally, J., Stark, A. A., Wilson, R. W., & Henkel, C.
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 1988-01
- Volume
- 324
- Pages
- 223
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W1973813727
- Cited by
- 272
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 15.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Keywords
- Galactic Center, molecular clouds, molecular gas kinematics, gas distribution, 13CO emission, CS emission, velocity field, chaotic dynamics, Galactic plane, scale height
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