Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21725110w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #251.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
In the course of our motion through the Galaxy, the Solar System has encountered many interstellar environments of varying characteristics. ISM density variations spanning six orders of magnitude are commonly seen throughout the general Galactic environment, and a sufficiently dense cloud within this range has the potential to compress the heliosphere to within one Astronomical Unit. We present a reconstruction of the density profile for the clouds we have most recently passed through based on high-resolution optical spectra towards nearby stars. The data were obtained with the Harlan J Smith 2.7-meter telescope coudé spectrograph at McDonald Observatory. Observations were made of interstellar NaI and CaII doublet absorption towards 49 bright stars along the historical path of solar motion in our orbit around the center of the Galaxy. Spectra were taken of stars out to a distance of 480 parsecs, with a median separation distance of 5 parsecs between adjacent stars. No absorption is seen out to a distance of 120 pc (consistent with the Local Bubble), but a complex collection of absorbers (up to 10 components) is seen in stars between 130 and 480 pc. A possible link between our local interstellar environment, cosmic rays, and our planetary climate has long been a subject of interest to members of the astronomical community. Compression of the heliosphere (one of our three cosmic ray shields) due to passage through a dense interstellar cloud could have drastic effects on Earth's climate: global cooling (atmospheric dust deposition), weather patterns (cloud nucleation), and evolution (DNA mutations). A timescale of interaction with each ISM component in this path can be constructed and ultimately compared with Earth's geologic record.
Redfield Seth
Wyman Katherine
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