Molecules in Galaxies V. CO Observations of Flocculent and Grand Design Spirals.

Carbon monoxide (1-0) observations of 29 spiral galaxies were made with the 7 meter antenna at Crawford Hill in order to search for possible correlations between the CO surface brightness of galactic disks and the presence or lack of grand design spiral structure. Five positions were observed for most of the galaxies, and the interpolated total CO J = 1-0 line fluxes were determined using the method of Stark et al.(1986). When combined with similar data for 74 other galaxies in the Virgo cluster (ibid.) and in a compilation by Verter (1985), the total sample shows no significant correlation between the CO surface brightness and the presence or lack of grand design spiral structure.