Dame, Hartmann and Thaddeus (2001) used observations from 37 individual surveys to construct a composite CO map of the Galaxy. The composite map covers approximately 45% of the sky within 30 degrees of the Galactic equator. Comparison with far-infrared and 21 cm surveys have been used to argue that the composite CO map is nearly complete for |b|< 32°. Because the map merges several surveys, both the angular resolution and the sensitivity vary from region to region. The authors have used noise suppression techniques in the processing of each survey to achieve a uniform overall S/N appearance on the map.
Dame et al. provide the velocity-integrated CO brightness temperature map (WCO) in digital form as a rectilinear projection with 0.125° pixel spacing. The WCO map provided here was interpolated from their projection onto pixel centers appropriate for HEALPix Nside=512. The map is in units of K-km/sec.
