1996/12/10 by Edward L. Wright, E. L. Wright, Wright, Edward L.
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9612105
7 pages of LaTeX with 5 included figures. Presented at the IRTS symposium at ISAS in Japan on 12 Nov 96
arxiv created 1996/12/10 · openalex publication_date 1996/12/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The FIRAS instrument on the COBE satellite has conducted an unbiased survey of the far-infrared emission from our Galaxy. The first results of this survey were reported by Wright et al. (1991), and later conclusions were reported in Bennett et al. (1994). I report the results of analyses of this spectral survey, which includes emission lines from 158 micron C+, 122 micron and 205 micron N+, 370 micron and 609 micron neutral C, and CO J=2-1 through 5-4. The morphological distribution along the galactic plane (b=0 deg) for all the spectral line emission, and the high galactic latitude intensities of the strong C+ and 205 micron N+ emission are discussed. The high galactic latitude intensity of the 158 micron fine structure transition from C+ is I = (1.43 +/- 0.12)*1E-6 csc|b| erg/cm2/s/sr for |b| > 15 deg and it decreases more rapidly than the far infrared intensity with increasing galactic latitude.