The Local Bubble and the Galactic Neighborhood
Explanation:
What surrounds the Sun in this neck of the
Milky Way Galaxy?
Our current best guess is depicted in the
above map of the surrounding 1500
light years constructed from various
observations and deductions.
Currently, the Sun is passing through a
Local Interstellar Cloud
(LIC), shown in violet, which is
flowing away from the
Scorpius-Centaurus Association of young stars.
The LIC resides in a low-density hole in the
interstellar medium (ISM) called the
Local Bubble, shown in black.
Nearby, high-density
molecular clouds including the
Aquila Rift surround star forming regions,
each shown in orange.
The
Gum Nebula, shown in green, is a region of
hot ionized hydrogen gas.
Inside the Gum Nebula is the
Vela Supernova Remnant,
shown in pink, which is expanding to create
fragmented shells of material like the LIC.
Future observations should help astronomers
discern more about the local
Galactic Neighborhood and how it might have affected
Earth's past climate.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
