Poster Presentation Astronomical Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting including HWWS 2013

Title: Clustering of dense molecular gas in the Milky Way Galaxy (#202)

Shaila Akhter 1
  1. UNSW School of Physics, SYDNEY, NSW, Australia

Giant molecular clouds are the hosts for massive star formation, which occurs within dense condensation within the more diffuse gas. The HOPS Mopra telescope survey of the southern Galactic plane identified many regions of dense gas using transitions of the molecule ammonia. We are now examining these regions in greater depth, and here we describe how we are decomposing the areas of ammonia emission into 3-dimensional clumps. While 3-D clump finding is now routinely undertaken, the hyperfine structure of ammonia presents extra difficulties, and we discuss ways of getting around this problem. This study is a first step in understanding the clumping and multiplicity of dense (possibly) protostellar clumps throughout differing regions of the Milky Way Galaxy.