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Extragalactic Astronomy
Multi-transition CO images toward the Whirlpool galaxy M51 |
Image Credit: Matsushita et al.
Multi-transition CO images toward the Whirlpool galaxy M51. The images show stronger intensity toward the nucleus in the higher CO transitions, suggesting that the molecular gas around the AGN is dominated by denser and warmer molecular gas. The optical p
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Using the SMA to study higher line transitions of carbon monoxide (CO), we found strong concentrations of warmer and denser molecular gas toward the nucleus of the Whirlpool galaxy, M51. The motion of the gas near the central AGN seems to be independent from the gas located in the large-scale galactic disk. |