Related papers: A new perspective on the interstellar cloud surrou…
Aims: We offer a new, simpler picture of the local interstellar medium, made of a single continuous cloud enveloping the Sun. This new outlook enables the description of a diffuse cloud from within and brings to light some unexpected…
On its journey through the Galaxy, the Sun passes through diverse regions of the interstellar medium. High-resolution spectroscopic measurements of interstellar absorption lines in spectra of nearby stars show absorption components from…
The bulk flow velocity for the cluster of interstellar cloudlets within about 30 pc of the Sun is determined from optical and ultraviolet absorption line data, after omitting from the sample stars with circumstellar disks or variable…
Analysis of interstellar absorption lines observed in high-resolution {\em HST} spectra of nearby stars provides temperatures, turbulent velocities, and kinetic properties of warm interstellar clouds. Previous studies identified 15 warm…
We have obtained high resolution (FWHM = 4.4 km/s) Keck spectra of images A and C of the gravitationally lensed QSO Q1422+231. The images are separated by 1.3" on the sky. In an absorption system at z = 3.538 gas column density variations…
We analyze interstellar absorption features in the full UV spectrum of the nearby (d = 24 pc) B8 IVn star alpha Leo (Regulus) obtained at high resolution and high S/N by the HST ASTRAL Treasury program. We derive column densities for many…
We investigate interstellar absorption from molecular hydrogen (H_2) and metals in an intermediate-velocity cloud (IVC) in the direction of the LMC star Sk -68 80 (HD 36521), based on data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer…
We have mapped two molecular clouds at (l, b) = (3.2 degrees, + 0.3 degrees) and (l, b) = (5.4 degrees, -0.5 degrees) in 21-cm line and continuum emission. These clouds show unusually large velocity dispersions of more than 100 km/s (FWHM)…
Using the IRAM 30m telescope two molecular structures have been detected which cover very small areas, FWHM<1'. The clouds have velocities of v_lsr~5kms and linewidth of dv~0.8km/s; thus they belong most likely to the Milky Way. Applying…
We use spectroscopic data from HST and FUSE to study the wide range of ionization states of the "highly ionized high-velocity clouds". Studied extensively in OVI absorption, these clouds are usually assumed to be infalling gas in the…
Spectra obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope GHRS are combined with high-resolution optical spectra and UV spectra from Copernicus to study the abundances and physical conditions in the diffuse interstellar clouds seen along the line of…
In the preceding paper (paper I), we presented HI absorption spectra towards radio sources very close to the lines of sight towards 25 bright stars against which optical absorption spectra had been obtained earlier. In this paper we analyse…
We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and Hubble Space Telescope observations of high, intermediate, and low ion absorption in high-velocity cloud Complex C along the lines of sight toward five active galaxies. Our purpose is to…
Several nearby individual low column density interstellar cloudlets have been identified based on kinematical features evident in high-resolution CaII observations near the Sun. One of these cloudlets, the ``Aquila-Ophiuchus'' cloud, is…
At present, the heliosphere is embedded in a warm low density interstellar cloud that belongs to a cloud system flowing through the local standard of rest with a velocity near ~18 km/s. The velocity structure of the nearest interstellar…
The effects of the UV background radiation on the formation of sub-galactic clouds are studied by means of one-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. The radiative transfer of the ionizing photons due to the absorption by HI, HeI and HeII,…
The interstellar cloud surrounding the solar system regulates the galactic environment of the Sun, and determines the boundary conditions of the heliosphere. Both the Sun and interstellar clouds move through space, so these boundary…
We analyze high-resolution ultraviolet spectra of three nearby exoplanet host stars (HD 192310, HD 9826, and HD 206860) to study interstellar properties along their lines of sight and to search for the presence of astrospheric absorption.…
The outer Galaxy presents an optimal setting for investigating molecular clouds and star formation in environments with low metallicity. A total of 72 Galactic edge clouds were surveyed using the CO\,(2--1) line with the IRAM\,30\,m…
A set of diffuse interstellar clouds in the inner Galaxy within a few hundred pc of the Galactic plane has been observed at an angular resolution of ~1 arcmin combining data from the NRAO Green Bank Telescope and the Very Large Array. At…