COBE Observations of Interstellar Line Emission

Abstract

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/cm^2/s/sr for |b| > 15 deg and it decreases more rapidly than the far infrared intensity with increasing galactic latitude.