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20.6 Interstellar matter around the sun  (Page 2/19)

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Local fluff.

Diagram of the Local Fluff. In this plot the vertical axis is labeled “Distance (light years)”, and runs from -20 to 20 in increments of 10. The horizontal axis is labeled “Distance (light years)”, and also runs from -20 to 20 in increments of 10. The Sun is plotted in the center of the plot (0, 0) as a yellow circle. A grey arrow is drawn from the Sun pointing toward the upper right and is labeled “Direction of sun’s motion”. Two stars are plotted; “Alpha centauri” as a yellow dot at about (4, -4), and “Sirius” as a blue dot near (-8, -8). Along the bottom a blue arrow points to the right and is labeled “Galactic Center”. Some cloud names are given; the “Local Cloud” near the Sun, “Blue” near bottom center, and the “G cloud” to the right of the Sun. Five unlabeled arrows are drawn above the Sun pointing to the upper left indicating motions of the local cloud. A further unlabeled arrow is drawn starting near (-2, -2) pointing up. An arrow is drawn starting near (1, 20) pointing left and labeled “Mic”. An arrow is drawn starting near (-10, 10) pointing upward and labeled “Hyades”. An arrow is drawn starting near (-12, 4) pointing left and labeled “Aur”. Finally, an arrow is drawn starting near (-11, -3) pointing left and labeled “Gem”. To the right and slightly above the Sun are the constellations “Aql”, “Eri” and “Oph”.
The Sun and planets are currently moving through the Local Interstellar Cloud, which is also called the Local Fluff. Fluff is an appropriate description because the density of this cloud is only about 0.3 atom per cm 3 . In comparison, Earth’s atmosphere at the edge of space has around 1.2 × 10 13 molecules per cm 3 . This image shows the patches of interstellar matter (mostly hydrogen gas) within about 20 light-years of the Sun. The temperature of the Local Interstellar Cloud is about 7000 K. The arrows point toward the directions that different parts of the cloud are moving. The names associated with each arrow indicate the constellations located on the sky toward which the parts of the cloud are headed. The solar system is thought to have entered the Local Interstellar Cloud, which is a small cloud located within a much larger superbubble that is expanding outward from the Scorpius-Centaurus region of the sky, at some point between 44,000 and 150,000 years ago and is expected to remain within it for another 10,000 to 20,000 years. (credit: modification of work by NASA/Goddard/Adler/University Chicago/Wesleyan)

Key concepts and summary

The Sun is located at the edge of a low-density cloud called the Local Fluff. The Sun and this cloud are located within the Local Bubble, a region extending to at least 300 light-years from the Sun, within which the density of interstellar material is extremely low. Astronomers think this bubble was blown by some nearby stars that experienced a strong wind and some supernova explosions.

For further exploration

Articles

Goodman, A. “Recycling the Universe.” Sky&Telescope November (2000): 44. Review of how stellar evolution, the interstellar medium, and supernovae all work together to recycle cosmic material.

Greenberg, J. “The Secrets of Stardust.” Scientific American December (2000): 70. The makeup and evolutionary role of solid particles between the stars.

Knapp, G. “The Stuff between the Stars.” Sky&Telescope May (1995): 20. An introduction to the interstellar medium.

Nadis, S. “Searching for the Molecules of Life in Space.” Sky&Telescope January (2002): 32. Recent observations of water in the interstellar medium by satellite telescopes.

Olinto, A. “Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays.” Astronomy April (2014): 30. What accelerates them to such high energies.

Reynolds, R. “The Gas between the Stars.” Scientific American January (2002): 34. On the interstellar medium.

Websites and apps

Barnard, E. E., Biographical Memoir: http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/barnard-edward.pdf.

Cosmicopia: http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/cosmic.html. NASA’s learning site explains about the history and modern understanding of cosmic rays.

DECO: https://wipac.wisc.edu/deco. A smart-phone app for turning your phone into a cosmic-ray detector.

Hubble Space Telescope Images of Nebulae: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/nebula/. Click on any of the beautiful images in this collection, and you are taken to a page with more information; while looking at these images, you may also want to browse through the slide sequence on the meaning of colors in the Hubble pictures (http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind_the_pictures/meaning_of_color/).

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Source:  OpenStax, Astronomy. OpenStax CNX. Apr 12, 2017 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11992/1.13
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