ABSTRACT

[Home] [New Abstracts] [Newsletter] [Newsflash] [Articles] [Conferences] [Subscribers] [Subscription] [Submission]

ABSTRACT: We present VLA maps of NH₃(1,1) and NH₃(2,2) emission in the inner 10 pc of the Galaxy, covering Sgr A^*, the circumnuclear disk (CND) and the 20 and 50 km/s clouds. In the central 3 parsecs surrounding Sgr A^* we map a portion of the CND, which is connected to a long, narrow 2 pc*10 pc streamer of clumpy molecular gas located towards the south. This southern streamer appears to be carrying gas from the nearby 20 km sec^-1 cloud to the CND. We find a velocity gradient along the streamer, with progressively higher velocities as the gas approaches Sgr A^*. The gas is the northern tip of the streamer is heated and the line width increases dramatically, which may be a kinematic signature of accretion onto the CND. We also report on preliminary results of the interaction between the 50 km/s cloud and Sgr A East.