Far-IR Emission from the Arched Filaments Near the Galactic Center
Session 21 -- Diffuse Galactic Emission
Display presentation, Wednesday, January 12, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

## [21.02] Far-IR Emission from the Arched Filaments Near the Galactic Center

J.A.Davidson (NASA/Ames and SETI Institute), M.Morris (Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of California, Los Angeles), P.M.Harvey, D.F.Lester, B.Smith (Dept. of Astronomy, University of Texas), M.W.Werner (JPL, California Institute of Technology)

The Radio Arc region, located about 10$'$ (ie., approx. 20 pc) North of the Galactic Center, consists of two components: a set of nonthermal, linear filaments, called the Nonthermal Filaments, which are clearly magnetic structures, and a set of thermal, fleecy filaments, called the Arched Filaments, whose source of energy and structure is unclear. Infrared and radio emission from the Arched Filaments is consistent with excitation from embedded stars, however, the structure of these filaments and their interaction with the magnetic Nonthermal Filaments hint that stellar excitation is not the full explanation for their appearance. We present our 50 and 90 \mm. continuum maps of the Arched Filaments made from data taken from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The spatial resolution is 26$''$ and 33$''$, respectively. From these maps we have constructed a dust temperature map and a luminosity map. From these we have calculated a total luminosity of $1.2 \times 10^8$ L\sun. for the region mapped, and a luminosity of $3.4 \times 10^7$ L\sun. for the filaments themselves. The dust temperature map of the region shows that the dust temperature is constant along the filaments, although clumpy, ranging from 45 to 55 K. Between the filaments the dust temperature drops to 40 K. We discuss the various kinds of heating sources of the Arched Filaments which are consistent with our data.