The Aquila Rift
Posted Jun13-08 at 07:22 AM by hellfire
In order to understand the galactic neighborhood that can be identified by nacked eye we will we will say today a few words about the Aquila Rift. With some of the blog entries I have already made you might be in a good possition to understand this picture:
In this blog I have already written about the motion of the solar system, about the spiral arms that you can see by nacked eye and about the local bubble and the sco-cen OB association.
The Aquila Rift is a molecular cloud. This is a type of interstellar cloud whose density and size permits the formation of molecules, most commonly molecular hydrogen (H2). As you can read in the wikipedia article, this molecule is difficult to detect, and the molecule most used to trace the H2 is CO (carbon monoxide). The ratio between CO luminosity and H2 mass is assumed to be roughly constant. This is because carbon monoxide (CO) molecules can exist only deep inside dense clouds of hydrogen, protected by the outer layers of gas and dust. If CO gas is detected, it can be inferred that there is also molecular hydrogen surrounding it.
Starting from Cygnus, in the direction of the Galactic center the Milky Way splits into two branches. The southern branch runs through Cygnus, Vulpecula, Sagitta, Aquila and Scutum, entering the Galactic central bulge in Sagittarius. The northern branch crosses Vulpecula and Aquila and disappears in the northern part of the Ophiuchus constellation, being covered by numerous dust clouds. This complex of dark clouds usually is called the Aquila Rift.
To see a great picture of this follow this link. In encorage you to take a look, it is an impressive picture but it is too big to put it here.
It is unclear whether the aquila rift contains regions of star formation, but there are indications that it is a part of Gould's Belt as mentioned in The Gould Belt, star formation, and the local interstellar medium. Moreover, the Aquila Rift is located in the Orion Arm, same than the Vulpecula Rift in the same area of the sky. The first is located at about 200 kpc from us and the second at about 400 kpc.
The Aquila Rift cloud region and the solar system might be approaching and would meet in about 50,000 years, as mentioned in this press article.
In this blog I have already written about the motion of the solar system, about the spiral arms that you can see by nacked eye and about the local bubble and the sco-cen OB association.
The Aquila Rift is a molecular cloud. This is a type of interstellar cloud whose density and size permits the formation of molecules, most commonly molecular hydrogen (H2). As you can read in the wikipedia article, this molecule is difficult to detect, and the molecule most used to trace the H2 is CO (carbon monoxide). The ratio between CO luminosity and H2 mass is assumed to be roughly constant. This is because carbon monoxide (CO) molecules can exist only deep inside dense clouds of hydrogen, protected by the outer layers of gas and dust. If CO gas is detected, it can be inferred that there is also molecular hydrogen surrounding it.
Starting from Cygnus, in the direction of the Galactic center the Milky Way splits into two branches. The southern branch runs through Cygnus, Vulpecula, Sagitta, Aquila and Scutum, entering the Galactic central bulge in Sagittarius. The northern branch crosses Vulpecula and Aquila and disappears in the northern part of the Ophiuchus constellation, being covered by numerous dust clouds. This complex of dark clouds usually is called the Aquila Rift.
To see a great picture of this follow this link. In encorage you to take a look, it is an impressive picture but it is too big to put it here.
It is unclear whether the aquila rift contains regions of star formation, but there are indications that it is a part of Gould's Belt as mentioned in The Gould Belt, star formation, and the local interstellar medium. Moreover, the Aquila Rift is located in the Orion Arm, same than the Vulpecula Rift in the same area of the sky. The first is located at about 200 kpc from us and the second at about 400 kpc.
The Aquila Rift cloud region and the solar system might be approaching and would meet in about 50,000 years, as mentioned in this press article.
Total Comments 0
