The Dynamical Structure of the Local Interstellar Medium

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

We present a dynamical analysis of the largest collection of local interstellar medium (LISM) absorption velocity component measurements. High resolution ultraviolet observations with the Hubble Space Telescope of stars within 100 pc provide 183 interstellar components and ground-based CaII spectra provide an additional 87 components. We fit these data with 15 rigid velocity vectors and determine the shapes of the associated clouds located within 15 pc of the Sun. Assignment of cloud membership is not solely derived from projected velocity agreement, but also includes comparison of physical parameters (e.g., temperature, nonthermal velocity, and depletions) with nearby cloud members. The Local Interstellar Cloud, the collection of gas that directly surrounds our solar system is easily identified in more than 75 sightlines. The remaining clouds are identified with 4 to 21 sightlines. 20% of observed components are not satisfactorily characterized by the 15 velocity vectors, and possibly include more distant clouds that subtend much smaller solid angles or are caused by absorption of circumstellar gas. Several clouds have a filamentary structure, which may be indicative of shocked or interacting material. We examine cloud dynamics at boundary regions and search for evidence of shear flows or cloud-cloud interactions. We find that several nearby radio scintillation scattering screens are coincident with the intersections of the LIC, and other nearby clouds.
Support for this work was provided by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant HST-HF-01190.01, AR-09525.01A and GO-10236.02 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract NAS 5-26555.

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