Related papers: High-Velocity Clouds and the Local Intergalactic M…
Significant progress has been made over the last few years to explore the gaseous halo of the Milky Way by way of absorption spectroscopy. I review recent results on absorption line studies in the halo using various instruments, such as the…
I review studies of the hot gaseous medium in and around nearby normal disk galaxies, including the Milky Way. This medium represents a reservoir of materials required for lasting star formation, a depository of galactic feedback (e.g.,…
Recent observations show that spiral galaxies are surrounded by extended gaseous halos as predicted by the hierarchical structure formation scenario. The origin and nature of extraplanar gas is often unclear since the halo is continuously…
We model the kinematics of the high- and intermediate- velocity clouds (HVCs and IVCs) observed in absorption towards a sample of 55 Galactic halo stars with accurate distance measurements. We employ a simple model of a thick disc whose…
I review recent observations of molecular gas in the halo of the Milky Way and in the Magellanic Clouds. Far-ultraviolet absorption line studies of molecular hydrogen (H_2) with ORFEUS and FUSE have unveiled the presence of a diffuse…
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…
We combine CaII/NaI absorption and HI 21 cm emission line measurements to analyse the metal abundances, the distribution, the small-scale structure, and the physical conditions of intermediate- and high-velocity gas in the Galactic halo.
We perform a systematic study of physical properties and distribution of neutral and ionised gas in the halo of the Milky Way (MW). Beside the large neutral intermediate- and high-velocity cloud (IVC, HVC) complexes there exists a…
We have recently identified several high velocity (V < -100 km/s) clouds in the directions of Mrk 509 and PKS 2155-304 that have unusual ionization properties. The clouds exhibit strong C IV absorption with little or no detectable low ion…
The hot interstellar medium traces the stellar feedback and its role in regulating the eco-system of the Galaxy. I review recent progress in understanding the medium, based largely on X-ray absorption line spectroscopy, complemented by…
There is increasing observational evidence that hot, highly ionized interstellar and intergalactic gas plays a significant role in the evolution of galaxies in the local universe. The primary spectral diagnostics of the warm-hot…
Galactic halo gas traces inflowing star formation fuel and feedback from a galaxy's disk and is therefore crucial to our understanding of galaxy evolution. In this review, we summarize the multi-wavelength observational properties and…
The HI halo clouds of the Milky Way, and in particular the intermediate-velocity clouds (IVCs), are thought to be connected to Galactic fountain processes. Observations of fountain clouds are important for understanding the role of matter…
The pervasive presence of warm gas in galaxy halos suggests that the circumgalactic medium (CGM) is multiphase in its ionization structure and complex in its kinematics. Some recent state-of-the-art cosmological galaxy simulations predict…
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…
Recent studies of the circumgalactic gaseous environment of the Milky Way have concentrated on the distribution, chemical composition, and physical properties of the most massive neutral gas clouds and the highly-ionized halo absorbers.…
A hot phase of the interstellar medium has now been detected and studied in several objects through its X-ray emission. A proper assessment of its characteristics is relevant for our understanding of several aspects of galaxy properties,…
Theoretical and observational arguments suggest that there is a large amount of hot ($\sim 10^6$ K), diffuse gas residing in the Milky Way's halo, while its total mass and spatial distribution are still unclear. In this work, we present a…
The spatial distribution of the gaseous components of the Milky Way is of great importance for a number of different fields, for example, Galactic structure, star formation, and cosmic rays. However, obtaining distance information to…
The development of our understanding of the gaseous component of the interstellar medium is reviewed. During the 20th century our picture of diffuse material in space has grown from a simple model of isolated clouds in thermal equilibrium…