Star Formation in M81

Extract

VLA observations of the spiral galaxy M81 in the radio continuum at wavelengths of 6 and 20-cm have been used to check the predictions of the density wave theory. The non-thermal radiation from the arms has been detected and the arms are found to be broader than the predictions of the classical density wave theory. Their width does seem to agree with that predicted by models which take the clumpy nature of the interstellar medium into account. These data are also able to separate giant HII regions from the non-thermal arms. Collaborators have furnished optical Hα data on the HII regions and HI 21-cm data, from the VLA, which will be used to find and measure the location of the HII regions with respect to the spiral shock wave and to measure the visual extinction in the disk of M81.