MUSCLE W49: A MULTI-SCALE CONTINUUM AND LINE EXPLORATION OF THE MOST LUMINOUS STAR FORMATION REGION IN THE MILKY WAY. I. DATA AND THE MASS STRUCTURE OF THE GIANT MOLECULAR CLOUD

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 779; no. 2; pp. 1 - 28
• Main Authors: Galvan-Madrid, R, Liu, H B, Zhang, Z-Y, Pineda, J E, Peng, T-C, Zhang, Q, Keto, E R, Ho, P T P, Rodriguez, L F, Zapata, L, Peters, T, De Pree, C G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 20-12-2013
• Subjects: Arrays; ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; CONFIGURATION; Continuums; EXPLORATION; FEEDBACK; FILAMENTS; GHZ RANGE; MASS; Massive stars; MILKY WAY; Molecular clouds; PHOTOIONIZATION; RADIATION PRESSURE; STAR CLUSTERS; Star formation; STARS; TELESCOPES
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/779/2/121

The Multi-scale Continuum and Line Exploration of W49 is a comprehensive gas and dust survey of the giant molecular cloud (GMC) of W49A, the most luminous star-formation region in the Milky Way. In this paper, we present (1) an all-configuration Submillimeter Array mosaic in the 230 GHz (1.3 mm) band covering the central ~3' x 3' (~10 pc, known as W49N), where most of the embedded massive stars reside and (2) Purple Mountain Observatory 14 m telescope observations in the 90 GHz band, covering the entire GMC with maps of up to ~35' x 35' in size, or ~113 pc. We also make use of archival data from the Very Large Array, JCMT-SCUBA, the IRAM 30 m telescope, and the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory BOLOCAM Galactic Plane Survey. The resulting stellar content will probably remain as a gravitationally bound massive star cluster or a small system of bound clusters.