Distance Constraints for High Velocity Clouds from Optical Emission Lines

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dc.creatorWeiner, Benjamin J.
dc.creatorVogel, Stuart N.
dc.creatorWilliams, T. B.
dc.date2000-08-17
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T01:54:57Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T01:54:57Z
dc.descriptionWe report results from a survey of high velocity clouds and the Magellanic Stream for faint, diffuse optical recombination emission lines. We detect H-alpha emission with surface brightness from 41 to 1680 milli-Rayleighs (mR) from HVCs, and from <40 to 1360 mR in the MS. A simple model for the photoionizing radiation emergent from the Galaxy, normalized to the HVCs A and M with known distances, predicts distances from a few to 40 kpc, placing the faintest HVCs in the Galactic halo, too far away for a Galactic fountain. This model cannot explain the bright and spatially varying H-alpha in the Magellanic Stream, which requires another source of ionization. However, we do not find any HVCs super-faint in H-alpha; even with another ionization source, we conclude that the detected HVCs are not more than 2--4 times the distance of the MS (100-200 kpc).
dc.descriptionTo appear in proceedings of Gas and Galaxy Evolution, (VLA 20th Anniversary Conference), ASP Conf. Series, ed. J. Hibbard, M. Rupen, & J. van Gorkom. 6 pages, 3 figures, uses newpasp.sty
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0008263
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0008263
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/1495
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDistance Constraints for High Velocity Clouds from Optical Emission Lines
dc.typetext

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