• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.261-262
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• 2012

The aim of this research is to reveal the spatial distribution of the star formation activity of nearby galaxies by comparing CO molecular emission lines with the large area observation in far-infrared (FIR) lines. We report the imaging observations of NGC 253 by FIR forbidden lines via FIS-FTS and CO molecular lines from low to high excitation levels with ASTE, which are good tracers of star forming regions or photo-dissociation regions, especially spiral galaxies, in order to derive the information of the physical conditions of the ambient interstellar radiation fields. The combination of spatially resolved FIR and sub-mm data leads to the star formation efficiency within galaxy. The ratio between the FIR luminosity and molecular gas mass, $L_{FIR}/M_{H_2}$, is expected to be proportional to the number of stars formed in the galaxy per unit molecular gas mass and time. Moreover the FIR line ux shows current star formation activity directly. Furthermore these can be systematic and statistical data for star formation history and evolution of spiral galaxies.