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M.M. Hanson (U. Cincinnati), T.L. Wilson (MPIfR, Bonn, Germany & SMTO), D. Muders (MPIfR & SMTO), U.L. Hemamala (U. Cincinnati)
We present C18O (J=2-1) and CS (J=5-4) mm maps of the Giant Molecular Cloud associated with the young, massive star cluster and HII region M17. We have mapped the two main cloud regions North and Southwest of the heavily reddened OB cluster studied by Hanson et al. (1997, ApJ, 489, 698). Our 10' x 10' maps include two distinct molecular cores, in the N and SW. These reach estimated H2 column densities of 1023 cm-2. The North core shows no active star formation, in contrast to the SW core. The Northern cloud appears to be more extended, while the SW cloud is quite centrally condensed. The SW cloud core might be experiencing more advanced collapse than the quiescent Northern cloud.
This work is based on measurements made with the Heinrich Hertz Telescope, which is operated by the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory on behalf of Steward Observatory and the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie. MMH and ULH are supported by NSF grant AST-9973922 to the University of Cincinnati.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: hanson@physics.uc.edu