Received; accepted

• Main Authors: Roopesh Ojha, Antony A. Stark, Henry H. Hsieh, Adair P. Lane, Richard A. Chamberlin, Thomas M. Bania, Alberto D. Bolatto, James M. Jackson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.257.5419; http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0008439v1.pdf

We present a coarsely-sampled map of the region |l | ≤ 2 ◦ , |b | ≤ 0.1 ◦ in the 492 GHz ( 3P1 →3 P0) fine structure transition of neutral carbon, observed with the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO). The distribution of [C I] emission is similar on the large scale to that of CO J = 1 → 0. On average, the ratio of the integrated intensities, I[CI]/I12CO, is higher in the Galactic disk than in the Galactic Center region. This result is accounted for by the absorption of 12CO within the clouds located in the outer Galactic disk. I[CI]/I12 CO is surprisingly uniform over the variety of environments near the Galactic Center. On average, [C I] is optically thin (or as optically thin as 13CO (J = 1 → 0)) even in the dense molecular clouds of the Galactic Center region. Subject headings: Galaxy:abundances — Galaxy:center — ISM:atoms — ISM:general — ISM:molecules 1.