The Interstellar Medium Chapter 18 The Interstellar Medium
The Interstellar Medium Occupies the space among the stars Is made up of: cold gas , mostly hydrogen and helium Dust grains (size ~ 10-7 m - 103 x larger than gas particles)
Interstellar Matter
Starlight passing through a dusty region of space is both dimmed and reddened, but spectral lines are still recognizable in the light that reaches Earth
The dimming of the starlight by dust is called “Extinction” The blocking of the shorter wavelength (blue) light and transmission of the longer wavelength (Red) light gives the star a redder appearance. This is called “reddening”
Typical interstellar dust particle.
Dust grains are generally elongated rather than spherical. Astronomers know this by studying their polarizing effects on starlight
Emission Nebulae Nebula – Any “fuzzy” patch (bright or dark) on the sky. Emission nebulae – extended clouds of hot, glowing interstellar gas. They are associated with star formation, and result when hot O and B class stars heat and ionize the surrounding gas and dust from which they have formed.
Most of these emission nebulae are catalogued in the Messier Catalogue Most of these emission nebulae are catalogued in the Messier Catalogue. (Ex: M8, M16, M17, M20) Charles Messier was an 18th century French Astronomer who was mainly interested in comets. Messier was actually more concerned with making a list of celestial objects that might be confused with comets.
The ORION Nebula (M42)
Nebular Spectra Nebular spectra tell us a great deal about the ionized interstellar gas. Nebula are large enough for their actual sizes to be measured by simple geometry. (unlike stars, which appear to be points of light)
M16 – the Eagle Nebula
The Butterfly Nebula, a glowing patch of gas a few parsecs across. Its emission spectrum, showing light intensity over the entire visible portion of the EM spectruum from red to deep violet.
Some Nebular Properties Object Distance (pc) Diameter (pc) Density (106 part. /m3) Mass (Solar Masses) Temp. (K) M8 1200 14 80 2600 7500 M16 1800 8 90 600 8000 M17 1500 7 120 500 8700 M20 900 4 100 150 8200
The Orion Nebula The greenish tint of portions of this nebula are produced by an electron transition in doubly ionized oxygen. “Forbidden” Lines since they rarely occur in a “low density” gas on Earth.
Dark Dust Clouds Rho Ophiuchi Dark Dust clouds are cold irregularly shaped regions in the interstellar medium that diminish or completely obscure the light from background stars.
Horsehead Nebula in Orion. Dark Dust cloud
A simplified diagram of some interstellar clouds between a hot star and Earth
21 cm Radiation
Typical 21 –cm radio spectrum observed from several different regions of interstellar space.
Interstellar Molecules The interstellar medium also contains cold, dark molecular clouds which are observed mainly through the radio radiation they emit.
Spectra indiates that formaldehyde molecules exist around M20, as indicated by the arrows.
Contour Map of the amount of formaldehyde near M20 nebula, demonstrating how formaldehyde is especially abundant in the darkest interstellar regions.