Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter RadioSky

Tuesday, 13 September 2022, 15:00   (SFG 1030 / virtual RadioSky)

The SEDIGISM survey: Understanding the Molecular Skeleton of the Milky Way with APEX

V. S. Veena, K. M. Menten, F. Wyrowski, D. Colombo
Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy

Comprehending the large scale structure and the evolution of the molecular gas in the Milky Way still remains as a challenge primarily owing to the location of the Solar system within one of its spiral arms. In the past, several large-scale Galactic plane CO surveys have been conducted that provided a global view of the molecular gas within the Galaxy. However, their relatively low resolution and the sensitivity have limited our understanding of the Galactic molecular skeleton. The Structure, Excitation, and Dynamics of the Inner Galactic Interstellar Medium (SEDIGISM) survey is one of the most extended molecular gas surveys covering the first and fourth quadrants of the Galactic plane in the J=2-1 transition of 13CO, at an angular resolution of ~30". With low to moderate optical depth and high critical density, the 13CO(2-1) line is an ideal tracer of the cold and dense ISM and the survey complements many Galactic continuum surveys at radio, infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. With SEDIGISM, more than 10000 clouds belonging to spiral arms and inter-arm regions of the inner Galaxy are catalogued and their properties are investigated. We will present major highlights and some key results of the survey and discuss its implications on the large scale dense gas morphology.