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Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Local Fluff
NASA ^ | 22 Dec, 2024 | Illustration Credit: NASA, SVS, Adler, U. Chicago, Wesleyan

Posted on 12/22/2024 12:13:35 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy, about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform and shows patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and particle detections from the Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary Exporer satellite (IBEX), is shown here. These observations indicate that our Sun is moving through a Local Interstellar Cloud as this cloud flows outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association star forming region. Our Sun may exit the Local Cloud, also called the Local Fluff, during the next 10,000 years. Much remains unknown about the local ISM, including details of its distribution, its origin, and how it affects the Sun and the Earth. Unexpectedly, IBEX spacecraft measurements indicate that the direction from which neutral interstellar particles flow through our Solar System is changing.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 12/22/2024 12:13:35 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 12/22/2024 12:13:59 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

3 posted on 12/22/2024 12:14:41 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

4 posted on 12/22/2024 12:15:40 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

I’ll have to remember interstellar medium so I won’t have to say someone stepped on a duck.


5 posted on 12/22/2024 1:05:00 PM PST by Vaduz
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To: MtnClimber

Question: Is the G Cloud next to the G Spot?


6 posted on 12/22/2024 1:09:20 PM PST by FroggyTheGremlim (Hail to Pitt!)
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To: FroggyTheGremlim
Question: Is the G Cloud next to the G Spot?

Yes, but not as hard to find.

7 posted on 12/22/2024 1:16:10 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: FroggyTheGremlim
The Local Fluff.....
8 posted on 12/22/2024 2:48:49 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: FroggyTheGremlim
No, that's over near the McCloud.


9 posted on 12/22/2024 3:33:54 PM PST by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: MtnClimber

I guess this is what is left over after the larger denser nebula that gave birth to many stars drifted away from us.


10 posted on 12/23/2024 11:26:00 AM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: minnesota_bound

Yes, probably so.


11 posted on 12/23/2024 12:02:16 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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