Collaborative Research: Resolving Physical Conditions of Diffuse Ionized Gas throughout the Milky Way-Magellanic System

合作研究：解决整个银河系-麦哲伦系统中弥散电离气体的物理条件

• 批准号: 2009276
• 负责人: Lawrence Haffner
• 金额: $ 56.73万
• 依托单位: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2009276&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Resolving; Physical; Conditions

Clouds of gas, where stars are born, show us the spectacular impact of stars on their immediate surroundings. The stars’ ultraviolet light strips electrons from atoms, ionizing them. These free electrons eventually combine again with atoms and emit telltale colors. Over the last few decades, the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) discovered that the entire sky is glowing faintly in red light emitted by ionized hydrogen atoms that pervade the Milky Way. The WHAM group has been exploring this "diffuse ionized gas" throughout the Milky Way and its neighboring satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. WHAM can reveal emission nearly a 100-million times fainter than the Orion Nebula. WHAM remains one of the most sensitive instruments in the world for studying faint, diffuse light in our sky. The Team is developing a new exhibit and educational activities that will help show how scientists use spectroscopy to identify elements and explore the properties of distant objects. The exhibit will engage the public and student groups with the same Fabry-Perot technology used by WHAM. The investigators will continue to provide excellent opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.During previous NSF-funded studies, WHAM investigators produced the first surveys that traced diffuse ionized gas in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. These efforts complement radio surveys of hydrogen that trace its cooler, neutral phase. Neutral and ionized hydrogen emission are now detected in every direction from our location inside the Galaxy. With this award, the investigators use WHAM to embark on a diverse observational program. Capturing emission from other elements, they are tracing the temperature and degree of ionization throughout the diffuse gas. This new study advances our understanding of interstellar matter, the processes that shape it, and how stars affect our Galaxy.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.

恒星诞生的气体云向我们展示了恒星对周围环境的壮观影响。恒星的紫外线从原子中带有电子，使它们电离。这些免费的电子产品最终再次与原子结合，并发出Telltale Colors。在过去的几十年中，威斯康星州H-Alpha映射器（WHAM）发现，整个天空纯粹是在遍布银河系的电离氢原子发出的红光下发光的。 WHAM集团一直在整个银河系中探索这种“弥漫性电离气体”及其附近的卫星星系，即麦哲伦云。 WHAM可以比猎户座星云显示出几乎1亿次的狂热者。 Wham仍然是世界上最敏感的乐器之一，用于研究我们天空中微弱的散射光。该团队正在开发一种新的发现和教育活动，该活动将有助于展示科学家如何使用光谱识别元素并探索遥远对象的特性。展览将与公众和学生团体一起使用WHAM使用的Fabry-Perot技术。调查人员将继续为本科和研究生提供绝佳的机会。在先前的NSF资助研究中，WHAM研究人员进行了第一批调查，这些调查以银河系和麦哲伦云进行了弥漫性电离气体。这些努力补充了氢的无线电调查，这些调查追踪其冷却器，中性相。现在，从我们的位置在银河系内的位置沿各个方向检测到中性和离子化的氢发射。通过此奖项，调查人员使用WHAM开始了潜水员观察计划。从其他元素中捕获发射，它们正在追踪整个弥漫性气体的温度和电离程度。这项新的研究促进了我们对星际问题的理解，塑造它的过程以及恒星如何影响我们的银河系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来审查标准，通过评估诚实地认为支持了支持。

项目成果

The Diffuse Ionized Gas Halo of the Large Magellanic Cloud

大麦哲伦星云的弥散电离气体晕

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/acc06e
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: The Astrophysical Journal
• 作者: Smart, B. M.;Haffner, L. M.;Barger, K. A.;Ciampa, D. A.;Hill, A. S.;Krishnarao, D.;Madsen, G. J.
• 通讯作者: Madsen, G. J.