Multi-frequency GMRT observations of the HII regions S 201, S 206, and S 209: Galactic temperature gradient

Abstract

We present radio continuum images of three Galactic H II regions, S 201, S 206, and S 209 near 232, 327, and 610 MHz using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The GMRT has a mix of short and long baselines, therefore, even though the data have high spatial resolution, the maps are still sensitive to diffuse extended emission. We find that all three H II regions have bright cores surrounded by diffuse envelopes. We use the high resolution afforded by the data to estimate the electron temperatures and emission measures of the compact cores of these H II regions. Our estimates of electron temperatures are consistent with a linear increase of electron temperature with Galacto-centric distance for distances up to ~ 18 kpc (the distance to the most distant H II region in our sample).