NGC 6946: Molecular Bar or Molecular Spiral Arms?

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Session 105 -- Barred Spirals
Display presentation, Thursday, 12, 1995, 9:20am - 6:30pm

[105.04] NGC 6946: Molecular Bar or Molecular Spiral Arms?

Michael W. Regan (UMd), Stuart N. Vogel (UMd)

NGC 6946 is a nearby four-armed late-type spiral galaxy rich in molecular gas. Several single dish and interferometric millimeter studies of NGC 6946 have concluded that the molecular gas is distributed in a bar. They argue that the molecular bar implies the existence of a stellar bar with a length of $\sim$60''. In this poster we present high dynamic range ($>$100) CO 1-0 observations made with the Berkeley Illinois Maryland Array (BIMA) and near infrared observations taken with the Cryogenic Optical Bench (COB) on the Kitt Peak 1.3m. The near infrared observations reveal no signs of a large scale bar or oval distortion. The CO observations show a smooth connection between the ``bar-like'' extended CO emission and the spiral arms, implying that the ``bar-like'' emission seen previously is just the inward extension of the spiral arms.

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