Published November 1989 | Version v1
Journal article

CO(2-1) emission from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 3256

  • 1. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (USA)

Description

The J = (2-1) CO emission in the merging galaxy pair NGC 3256 is mapped. Molecular gas is distributed over an area of radius 6 kpc; the CO luminosity, 6.4 x 10 to the 9th K km/s pc squared, puts this galaxy among the group of three or four with the highest gas masses yet found, 3.1 x 10 to the 10th solar mass. Although the total FIR luminosity is large, the L(FIR)/M(H2) ratio is enhanced by a factor of only about 3 compared to gas-rich spirals like the Galaxy. The observations show that the molecular gas in this system is still widely dispersed across the almost completely merged disks. 26 refs

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
346
Series
Astrophys. J.
Journal Page Range
L9-L11
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOA