These absorption lines have long been used to study the
interstellar medium.
So large-scale turbulence or density variations in the
interstellar medium may be what shaped the tail instead.
The new map reveals the region that separates the nearest reaches of our galaxy, called the local
interstellar medium, from our heliosphere - a protective bubble that shields and protects our solar system from most of the dangerous cosmic radiation traveling through space.
For the first time, astronomers have clearly detected radio waves from deuterium atoms in the
interstellar medium. Deuterium--an atom of hydrogen with a neutron as well as a proton--is a chemical element that nuclear reactions produced and then nearly destroyed minutes after the Big Bang.
Papers from a June 2003 conference reflect the latest observations of the neutral
interstellar medium (ISM) in nearby and distant starburst galaxies and represent current research in neutral atomic and molecular gas associated with starbursts.
The difference between the two ratios in the comet resembles that found in the
interstellar medium, the source of material from which our solar system formed.
The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the
interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the galaxy) by the solar wind.
Voyager 1 is now in the heliosheath, the final region of the solar system before crossing the heliopause--the boundary where the solar wind is stopped by the
interstellar medium. Experts predict that the distant traveler will reach the heliopause in about a decade.
Star formation in the
interstellar medium; in honor of David Hollenbach, Chirs McKee and Frank Shu; proceedings.
Heath of the University of California, Los Angeles, who notes that scientists are already inserting the new results into models of the
interstellar medium.
If the distribution of the gas is relatively uniform, the stellar wind will literally blow a bubble in the
interstellar medium. Thus, a delicate and beautiful shell emerges around the star, producing a new type of nebula: the interstellar bubble."
The researchers guess that the aluminum may be racing through an unusually low density pocket of the
interstellar medium (SN: 4/20/96, p.