Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2007-10-17
Astrophys.J.670:L113-L116,2007
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
Scientific paper
10.1086/524222
We report the first determination of a distance bracket for the high-velocity cloud (HVC) complex C. Combined with previous measurements showing that this cloud has a metallicity of 0.15 times solar, these results provide ample evidence that complex C traces the continuing accretion of intergalactic gas falling onto the Milky Way. Accounting for both neutral and ionized hydrogen as well as He, the distance bracket implies a mass of 3-14x10^6 M_sun, and the complex represents a mass inflow of 0.1-0.25 M_sun/yr. We base our distance bracket on the detection of CaII absorption in the spectrum of the blue horizontal branch star SDSS J120404.78+623345.6, in combination with a significant non-detection toward the BHB star BS 16034-0114. These results set a strong distance bracket of 3.7-11.2 kpc on the distance to complex C. A more weakly supported lower limit of 6.7 kpc may be derived from the spectrum of the BHB star BS 16079-0017.
Barentine John C.
Beers Timothy C.
Howk Chris J.
Ivezic Zeljko
Peletier Reynier F.
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