Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm

Janez Kos; Tomaž Zwitter; Rosemary Wyse; Olivier Bienaymé; James Binney; Joss Bland-Hawthorn; Kenneth Freeman; Brad K. Gibson; Gerry Gilmore; Eva K. Grebel; Amina Helmi; Georges Kordopatis; Ulisse Munari; Julio Navarro; Quentin Parker; Warren A. Reid; George Seabroke; Sanjib Sharma; Arnaud Siebert; Alessandro Siviero; Matthias Steinmetz; Fred G. Watson; Mary E. K. Williams

doi:10.1126/science.1253171

Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm

Janez Kos^*, Tomaž Zwitter, Rosemary Wyse, Olivier Bienaymé, James Binney, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Kenneth Freeman, Brad K. Gibson, Gerry Gilmore, Eva K. Grebel, Amina Helmi, Georges Kordopatis, Ulisse Munari, Julio Navarro, Quentin Parker, Warren A. Reid, George Seabroke, Sanjib Sharma, Arnaud Siebert, Alessandro SivieroMatthias Steinmetz, Fred G. Watson, Mary E. K. Williams

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

45 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption lines observed in visual and near-infrared spectra of stars. Understanding their origin in the interstellar medium is one of the oldest problems in astronomical spectroscopy, as DIBs have been known since 1922. In a completely new approach to understanding DIBs, we combined information from nearly 500,000 stellar spectra obtained by the massive spectroscopic survey RAVE (Radial Velocity Experiment) to produce the first pseudo-three-dimensional map of the strength of the DIB at 8620 angstroms covering the nearest 3 kiloparsecs from the Sun, and show that it follows our independently constructed spatial distribution of extinction by interstellar dust along the Galactic plane. Despite having a similar distribution in the Galactic plane, the DIB 8620 carrier has a significantly larger vertical scale height than the dust. Even if one DIB may not represent the general DIB population, our observations outline the future direction of DIB research.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	791-795
Number of pages	5
Journal	Science
Volume	345
Issue number	6198
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253171
Publication status	Published - 15 Aug 2014

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Kos, J., Zwitter, T., Wyse, R., Bienaymé, O., Binney, J., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Freeman, K., Gibson, B. K., Gilmore, G., Grebel, E. K., Helmi, A., Kordopatis, G., Munari, U., Navarro, J., Parker, Q., Reid, W. A., Seabroke, G., Sharma, S., Siebert, A., ... Williams, M. E. K. (2014). Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm. Science, 345(6198), 791-795. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253171

@article{d4c391b919d540ddb24f90687e13a85c,

title = "Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm",

abstract = "The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption lines observed in visual and near-infrared spectra of stars. Understanding their origin in the interstellar medium is one of the oldest problems in astronomical spectroscopy, as DIBs have been known since 1922. In a completely new approach to understanding DIBs, we combined information from nearly 500,000 stellar spectra obtained by the massive spectroscopic survey RAVE (Radial Velocity Experiment) to produce the first pseudo-three-dimensional map of the strength of the DIB at 8620 angstroms covering the nearest 3 kiloparsecs from the Sun, and show that it follows our independently constructed spatial distribution of extinction by interstellar dust along the Galactic plane. Despite having a similar distribution in the Galactic plane, the DIB 8620 carrier has a significantly larger vertical scale height than the dust. Even if one DIB may not represent the general DIB population, our observations outline the future direction of DIB research.",

author = "Janez Kos and Toma{\v z} Zwitter and Rosemary Wyse and Olivier Bienaym{\'e} and James Binney and Joss Bland-Hawthorn and Kenneth Freeman and Gibson, {Brad K.} and Gerry Gilmore and Grebel, {Eva K.} and Amina Helmi and Georges Kordopatis and Ulisse Munari and Julio Navarro and Quentin Parker and Reid, {Warren A.} and George Seabroke and Sanjib Sharma and Arnaud Siebert and Alessandro Siviero and Matthias Steinmetz and Watson, {Fred G.} and Williams, {Mary E. K.}",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1126/science.1253171",

language = "English",

volume = "345",

pages = "791--795",

journal = "Science",

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Kos, J, Zwitter, T, Wyse, R, Bienaymé, O, Binney, J, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Freeman, K, Gibson, BK, Gilmore, G, Grebel, EK, Helmi, A, Kordopatis, G, Munari, U, Navarro, J, Parker, Q, Reid, WA, Seabroke, G, Sharma, S, Siebert, A, Siviero, A, Steinmetz, M, Watson, FG & Williams, MEK 2014, 'Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm', Science, vol. 345, no. 6198, pp. 791-795. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253171

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T1 - Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm

AU - Kos, Janez

AU - Zwitter, Tomaž

AU - Wyse, Rosemary

AU - Bienaymé, Olivier

AU - Binney, James

AU - Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

AU - Freeman, Kenneth

AU - Gibson, Brad K.

AU - Gilmore, Gerry

AU - Grebel, Eva K.

AU - Helmi, Amina

AU - Kordopatis, Georges

AU - Munari, Ulisse

AU - Navarro, Julio

AU - Parker, Quentin

AU - Reid, Warren A.

AU - Seabroke, George

AU - Sharma, Sanjib

AU - Siebert, Arnaud

AU - Siviero, Alessandro

AU - Steinmetz, Matthias

AU - Watson, Fred G.

AU - Williams, Mary E. K.

PY - 2014/8/15

Y1 - 2014/8/15

N2 - The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption lines observed in visual and near-infrared spectra of stars. Understanding their origin in the interstellar medium is one of the oldest problems in astronomical spectroscopy, as DIBs have been known since 1922. In a completely new approach to understanding DIBs, we combined information from nearly 500,000 stellar spectra obtained by the massive spectroscopic survey RAVE (Radial Velocity Experiment) to produce the first pseudo-three-dimensional map of the strength of the DIB at 8620 angstroms covering the nearest 3 kiloparsecs from the Sun, and show that it follows our independently constructed spatial distribution of extinction by interstellar dust along the Galactic plane. Despite having a similar distribution in the Galactic plane, the DIB 8620 carrier has a significantly larger vertical scale height than the dust. Even if one DIB may not represent the general DIB population, our observations outline the future direction of DIB research.

AB - The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption lines observed in visual and near-infrared spectra of stars. Understanding their origin in the interstellar medium is one of the oldest problems in astronomical spectroscopy, as DIBs have been known since 1922. In a completely new approach to understanding DIBs, we combined information from nearly 500,000 stellar spectra obtained by the massive spectroscopic survey RAVE (Radial Velocity Experiment) to produce the first pseudo-three-dimensional map of the strength of the DIB at 8620 angstroms covering the nearest 3 kiloparsecs from the Sun, and show that it follows our independently constructed spatial distribution of extinction by interstellar dust along the Galactic plane. Despite having a similar distribution in the Galactic plane, the DIB 8620 carrier has a significantly larger vertical scale height than the dust. Even if one DIB may not represent the general DIB population, our observations outline the future direction of DIB research.

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AN - SCOPUS:84906095512

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 345

SP - 791

EP - 795

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6198

ER -

Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm

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