The Virgo High-Resolution CO Survey I. CO Atlas

We present the results of the Virgo high-resolution CO survey (ViCS) obtained with the Nobeyama Millimeter-wave Array (NMA). This survey was made in the course of a long-term project at Nobeyama from 1999 December through 2002 April. The objects were selected from Virgo cluster members, considering CO richness from single dish flux, mild inclination, and lack of strong tidal perturbations. The central 1 arc min regions (4.7 kpc) of 15 spiral galaxies were observed with resolutions of 2 to 5 arcsec and 10 to 20 km/s, and sensitivities of 20 mJy/ beam for a 10 km/s channel. The objects lie at the same distance of the Virgo cluster (16.1 Mpc), which is advantageous for comparisons among individual galaxies. We describe the details of observations and data reduction, and present an atlas of integrated CO intensity maps, velocity fields and position-velocity diagrams along the major axes. The molecular gas morphology in the Virgo galaxies shows a wealth of variety, not specifically depending on the Hubble types.