A Large‐Scale CO Survey of the Galactic Center

Abstract

We present high-resolution CO images of the Galactic center region taken with the 2 x 2 focal-plane array receiver mounted on the 45 m telescope of Nobeyama Radio Observatory. We have collected about 44,000 ^12C^16O (J = 1-0) spectra and over 13,000 ^13C^16O (J = 1-0) spectra with a 34" (1.4 pc) grid spacing. The ^12CO mapping area is roughly -1.5d = 30 km s^-1 ). The small-scale structure of molecular gas is characterized by filaments, arcs, and shells. The boisterous molecular gas kinematics there may be a result of violent release of kinetic energy by a number of supernova explosions and/or Wolf-Rayet stellar winds.