Hydrogen Halo
Image
Minimum credit line: Image courtesy of NRAO/AUI and Kirk Woellert (NSF) and Patricia Smiley (NRAO).(for details, see Image Use Policy).

About this Image

Using the Green Bank Telescope, a cross-section of the Milky Way Galaxy's diffuse halo of hydrogen gas has been produced. This image confirms the presence of discrete hydrogen clouds in the halo, and could help astronomers understand the origin and evoulution of the rarefied atmosphere that surrounds our Galaxy. The hydrogen in the lower halo, the transition zone between the Milky Way and intergalactic space, is very clumpy. This latest data confirm these results and show that instead of trailing away smoothly from the Galactic plane, a significant fraction of the hydrogen gas in the halo is concentrated in discrete clouds. There are even some filaments.

Investigator(s):  J. Lockman

Alternate Resolutions Help

This image is available in the following downloadable versions:If you would like to obtain a higher resolution version of this image, please contact Pat Smiley.

For More Information

Technical Data

    Telescope GBT 
    Date of Observation 2003-01-07 
    Type of Observation Spectral Line Observations 
    Wavelength 21 cm 
    Frequency 1420.4 MHz 
    Species HI 
    Center of Image RA: 00:00:0.00, Dec: 00:00:0.00 (J2000)  
    Technical Caption  

  • Astronomical database entries for Milky Way
    • Query NED for images of Milky Way
    • Query SIMBAD for more Milky Way data
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