Ammonia in Starless Cores
Steward Observatory graduate student Youngmin Seo has published that largest map of the molecule ammonia in space using the 100 meter Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The ammonia molecule is an excellent probe of cold, dense molecular gas in star-forming regions via the radiation it emits at 1.3 centimeters in the radio part of the spectrum. The observations map ammonia in starless cores, the future sites of star and planet formation, along a 25 lightyear-long filament in the center of the nearby Taurus star-forming region (450 lightyears from Earth). The temperature of the gas measured from the ammonia emission is very cold (9.5 K or -443 F) and decreases toward the centers of dense cores. Analysis of the dynamical state of the cores suggests that starless cores begin their life as pressure-confined structures that evolve into gravitationally bound cores which collapse to form protostars.
More information on the ammonia survey may be found HERE. You can see an enlarged version of the figure at that site.
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