Understanding the Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Galaxy

这个天文学项目旨在提高我们对遍布银河系的稀薄、温暖气体的理解。该团队希望了解这种被称为“热电离介质”（WIM）的气体与星系中已知形成恒星的大而致密的云之间的关系。众所周知，WIM很难被观测到，因为它太薄太脆弱了。即便如此，WIM也很重要，因为它构成了银河系中近20%的气体。了解WIM如何影响恒星的诞生和银河系的演化是这个项目的重要目标。研究人员将使用美国国家科学基金会资助的绿岸望远镜（GBT）来观察WIM中氢原子的射电发射。氢是WIM中最丰富的元素。来自西弗吉尼亚大学（WVU）的研究小组将绘制银河系内部区域的地图，暂停对被称为“HII区域”的热气泡进行更深入的观察，以便与WIM进行比较。GBT是观测WIM最灵敏的望远镜。几乎40%的地图数据已经获得。完成这些地图并分析这些重要数据将对天文学界有相当大的用处。研究生，本科生，甚至当地的高中生都将参与这个项目。该团队将为西弗吉尼亚州的2015年愿景计划做出贡献，该计划旨在改善该州在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）方面的劳动力培训。首席研究员参与这项工作已有多年，这笔资金将使该项目扩展到该地区的更多学校。该团队的国家科学基金会支持的项目“绘制银河系”允许高中生识别HII区域，然后在GBT进行后续观察。该项目将从一所学校扩展到三所学校，从大约15名学生扩展到50多名学生。西弗吉尼亚大学的学生也将参与到这次外展活动中来。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This astronomy project aims at improving our understanding of the thin, warm gas spread throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. The team hope to understand how this gas, known as the "Warm Ionized Medium" or WIM, relates to the large, dense clouds in the galaxy where stars are known to form. The WIM is notoriously hard to observe because it is so thin and tenuous. Even so, the WIM is important because it makes up almost 20% of the gas in the galaxy. Understanding how the WIM affects the birth of stars and the evolution of the Milky Way are important goals of this project. The researchers will use the NSF-funded Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to observe radio emission from the hydrogen atoms in the WIM. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the WIM. The team from West Virginia University (WVU) will map the inner regions of the Milky Way, pausing to take deeper observations of hot bubbles of gas known as "HII regions" for comparison with the WIM. The GBT is the most sensitive telescope available for observing the WIM. Almost 40% of the map data have already been obtained. Completing the maps and analyzing these important data will be of considerable use to the astronomy community. Graduate, undergraduate, and even local high school students will be involved in this project. The team will contribute to West Virginia's Vision 2015 initiative to improve the state's workforce training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The Principle Investigator has been involved in this effort for a number of years, and with this funding will extend the program to more schools in the area. The team's NSF-supported project "Mapping the Galaxy" allows high school students to identify HII regions and then conduct follow-up observations at the GBT. This program will be extended from one to three schools, and from roughly 15 to more than 50 students. WVU students will also be involved in this outreach activity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.