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Paper: How Maser Observations Unravel the Gas Motions in the Galactic Center
Volume: 528, New Horizons in Galactic Center Astronomy and Beyond
Page: 71
Authors: Immer, K.; Reid, M. J.; Brunthaler, A.; Menten, K. M.; Zhang, Q.; Lu, X.; Mills, E. A. C.; Ginsburg, A.; Henshaw, J.; Longmore, S.; Kruijssen, D.; Pillai, T.
Abstract: Observations of the molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), the inner 500 pc of our Galaxy, have revealed complex structures in position-position-velocity space. Several coherent gas streams, spanning about 200 km s-1 in velocity, were detected. Recent orbital models simulate the inflow of gas towards and its kinematics in the CMZ, explaining these line-of-sight velocity measurements. However, to fully understand the motion of the molecular gas, we have to know its location in 6D space (3D location + 3D motion). With parallax and proper motion measurements of masers in the CMZ we can determine the motion of their host clouds and thus discriminate among the orbital models and constrain how the Galactic center is fed with gas.
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