SIMBAD references

begin{HTML}We report on ¹²CO (J = 3-2) observations of 15 nearby elliptical galaxies, carried out with the ASTE telescope. Thirteen were selected without regard to the presence of other tracers of cold interstellar matter. CO emission was detected from three of the galaxies, two of which were undetected by IRAS at 100 µm. The molecular gas masses range from 2.2 x 10⁶ to 4.3 x 10⁸ M_☉. The ratio of the CO(3-2) and (1-0) lines, R₃₁, has a lower value for elliptical galaxies than for spiral galaxies, except for NGC 855, for which the value is close to the mean for spirals. The molecular gas in NGC 855 has a mean density in the range of 300-1000 cm^-3, adopting a temperature range of 15-100 K.