We present first results from a submillimetre continuum survey of the Galactic Centre ‘ Central Molecular Zone ’ ( CMZ ) , made with SCUBA on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope .
SCUBA ’ s scan-map mode has allowed us to make extremely wide-field maps of thermal dust emission with unprecedented speed and sensitivity .
We also discuss some issues related to the elimination of artefacts in scan-map data .
Our simultaneous 850/450 \micron maps have a total size of approximately 2.8 \times 0.5 \arcdeg ( 400 \times 75 \mbox { pc } ) elongated along the galactic plane .
It covers the Sgr A region—including Sgr A* , the circumnuclear disc , and the +20 { km } / { s } and +50 { km } / { s } clouds ; the area around the Pistol ; Sgr B2—the brightest feature on the map ; and at its Galactic Western and Eastern edges the Sgr C and Sgr D regions .
There are many striking features such as filaments and shell-like structures , as well as point sources such as Sgr A* itself .
The total mass in the Central Molecular Zone is greater than that revealed in previous optically-thin molecular line maps by a factor of \sim 3 , and new details are revealed on scales down to 0.33 \mbox { pc } across this 400 \mbox { pc } -wide region .