Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope reveal an irregular network of
dust spiral arms in the nuclear region of the interacting disk galaxy NGC
2207. The spirals extend from similar to 50 to similar to 300 pc in galacto
centric radius, with a projected width of similar to 20 pc. Radiative trans
fer calculations determine the gas properties of the spirals and the inner
disk and imply a factor of similar to 4 local gas compression in the spiral
s. The gas is not strongly self-gravitating, nor is there a nuclear bar, so
the spirals could not have formed by the usual mechanisms applied to main
galaxy disks. Instead, they may result from acoustic instabilities that amp
lify at small galactic radii. Such instabilities may promote gas accretion
into the nucleus.