Local Interstellar Cloud

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Template:Short description

Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.

Local Interstellar Cloud
Interstellar cloud
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found.
Diagram of surrounding stars and artist's conception of the Local Interstellar Cloud
Observation data
ConstellationNone, Solar System is inside the nebula[1]
Physical characteristics
Dimensions30 ly (9.2 pc)
DesignationsLocal Cloud, Local Fluff, LIC
See also: Lists of nebulae
File:The Local Interstellar Cloud and neighboring G-cloud complex.svg
Map showing the Sun located near the edge of the Local Interstellar Cloud and Alpha Centauri about 4 light-years away in the neighboring G-Cloud complex

The Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), also known as the Local Fluff, is an interstellar cloud roughly 30 light-years (9.2 pc) across, through which the Solar System is moving. This feature overlaps with a region around the Sun referred to as the solar neighborhood.[2] It is unknown whether the Sun is embedded in the Local Interstellar Cloud, or is in the region where the Local Interstellar Cloud is interacting with the neighboring G-Cloud.[3] Like the G-Cloud and others, the LIC is part of the Very Local Interstellar Medium which begins where the heliosphere and interplanetary medium end,[4] the furthest that probes have traveled.

Structure

The Solar System is located within a structure called the Local Bubble, a low-density region of the galactic interstellar medium.[5] Within this region is the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), an area of slightly higher hydrogen density. It is estimated that the Solar System entered the LIC within the past 10,000 years.[6] It is uncertain whether the Sun is still inside of the LIC or has already entered a transition zone between the LIC and the G cloud.[3][6][7] A recent analysis estimates the Sun will completely exit the LIC in no more than 1,900 years.[8]

The cloud has a temperature of about 7,000 K (7,000 °C; 12,000 °F),[9] about the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. However, its specific heat capacity is very low because it is not very dense, with 0.3 atoms per cubic centimetre (5/cu in). This is less dense than the average for the interstellar medium in the Milky Way (0.5/cm3 or 8/cu in), though six times denser than the gas in the hot, low-density Local Bubble (0.05/cm3 or 0.8/cu in) which surrounds the local cloud.[5][10] In comparison, Earth's atmosphere at the edge of space (i.e. 100 km above sea level) has around 1.2Template:E molecules per cubic centimeter, dropping to around 50 million (5.0Template:E) at 450 km (280 mi).[11]

The cloud is flowing outwards from the Scorpius–Centaurus association, a stellar association that is a star-forming region,[12][13] roughly perpendicular to the Sun's own direction.

In 2019, researchers found interstellar iron-60 (60Fe) in Antarctica, which they relate to the Local Interstellar Cloud.[14]

Interaction with solar magnetic field

File:Interstellar medium annotated.jpg
The Solar System within the interstellar medium, with the different regions and their distances on a logarithmic scale (object sizes not to scale)

In 2009, Voyager 2 data suggested that the magnetic strength of the local interstellar medium was much stronger than expected (370 to 550 picoteslas (pT), against previous estimates of 180 to 250 pT). The fact that the Local Interstellar Cloud is strongly magnetized could explain its continued existence despite the pressures exerted upon it by the winds that blew out the Local Bubble.[15]

The Local Interstellar Cloud's potential effects on Earth are greatly diminished by the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field.[9] This interaction with the heliosphere is under study by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a NASA satellite mapping the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space.

See also

Page Template:Div col/styles.css has no content.

References

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."NAME LIC". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved March 15, 2014. {{cite web}}: Invalid |mode=Script error: No such module "Citation mode". (help)
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gargaud, Muriel; et al., eds. (2011). "Solar Neighborhood". Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. pp. 1526–1527. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_1460. ISBN 978-3-642-11271-3. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gilster, Paul (September 1, 2010). "Into the Interstellar Void". Centauri Dreams.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Linsky, Jeffrey (2020-03-23), "What lies immediately outside of the heliosphere in the very local interstellar medium (VLISM): morphology of the Local Interstellar Cloud, its hydrogen hole, Stromgren Shells, and 60Fe accretion", Egu General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Copernicus GmbH: 1410, Bibcode:2020EGUGA..22.1410L, doi:10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1410, S2CID 226032795
  5. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Our Local Galactic Neighborhood". Interstellar Probe Project. NASA. 2000. Archived from the original on 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
  6. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Frisch PC, et al. (September 2011). "The Interstellar Medium Surrounding the Sun". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 49 (1): 252. Bibcode:2011ARA&A..49..237F. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081710-102613. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Linsky JL, et al. (November 18, 2019). "The Interface between the Outer Heliosphere and the Inner Local ISM". The Astrophysical Journal. 886 (1): 41. arXiv:1910.01243. Bibcode:2019ApJ...886...41L. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab498a. S2CID 203642080.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Linsky JL, et al. (March 2020). "New results concerning the environment of the heliosphere, nearby interstellar clouds, and physical processes in the inter–cloud medium". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1620 (1) 012010. Bibcode:2020JPhCS1620a2010L. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1620/1/012010. S2CID 225188522.
  9. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Near-Earth Supernovas". NASA Science. NASA. January 6, 2003. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Boulanger, F.; et al. (2000). "Course 7: Dust in the Interstellar Medium". In Casoli, F.; Lequeux, J.; David, F. (eds.). Infrared Space Astronomy, Today and Tomorrow. Les Houches Physics School. Grenoble, France. August 3–28, 1998. Vol. 70. p. 251. Bibcode:2000isat.conf..251B.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.United States Committee on Extension to the Standard Atmosphere (October 1976). U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976. NOAA, NASA and U.S. Air Force. pp. 210–215. OCLC 3360756.
  12. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
  13. ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Koll, Dominik; et al. (August 2019). "Interstellar 60Fe in Antarctica". Physical Review Letters. 123 (7). 072701. Bibcode:2019PhRvL.123g2701K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.072701. hdl:1885/298253. PMID 31491090. S2CID 201868513.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Opher, M.; et al. (December 24–31, 2009). "A strong, highly-tilted interstellar magnetic field near the Solar System" (PDF). Nature. 462 (7276): 1036–1038. Bibcode:2009Natur.462.1036O. doi:10.1038/nature08567. PMID 20033043. S2CID 205218936.

Further reading

  • Page Template:Sister-inline/styles.css has no content.Script error: No such module "Sister project logo". Media related to Script error: No such module "Commons link". at Wikimedia Commons

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Navbox/configuration' not found. Lua error in mw.title.lua at line 404: bad argument #2 to 'title.new' (unrecognized namespace name 'Portal').

Retrieved from "https://cosmopedia.co/index.php?title=Local_Interstellar_Cloud&oldid=751554"