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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 September 2016
We have made 55″ resolution maps of the 158 μm [CII] emission line in the region of the curved, thermal filaments and the +20 / +50 kms−1 molecular clouds in Sgr A. The [CII] emission is spatially well correlated with the radio continuum in the filaments. The large intensity of the [CII] radiation excludes shocks as the origin of the ionization and we conclude that the curved filaments are most likely photo-ionized HII regions at the surface of dense molecular clouds. Our [CII] maps of the +20 / +50 kms−1 clouds indicate that the +50 kms−1 cloud is close to (<10pc) Sgr A west while the more massive +20 kms−1 cloud is at a greater distance from the center (>30pc).