High angular resolution 30 microns observations of the Galactic Center

We have mapped the central 2 min (5 pc) of the Galaxy with 4 sec resolution at 30 microns, using the MSFC bolometer array on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea. Complementary maps at 10 and 20 microns covering the same region were obtained contemporaneously with the same instrumentation. The maps encompass both the central cavity at the very center of the Galaxy and the disk of gas and dust which surrounds it. Our data show thermal emissions from dust particles within the cavity and - for the first time at this resolution - within the disk itself. The emission peaks at the position of IRS1 at all three wavelengths, and the 20/30 micron brightness ratio falls uniformly from this peak toward the outer regions of the source. The 30 micron emission correlates well with the HCN emission in the southwest portion of the circumnuclear disk and with the (O I) emission in the north. No feature is apparent at the position of SgrA at any of the three wavelengths. The circumnuclear disk was discovered from the KAO and has been extensively studied in both continuum and line emission in numerous subsequent flights. The poster will attempt to show how these latest ground-based observations intersect and build upon these airborne investigations.