TY - JOUR
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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84906095512&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1253171
DO - 10.1126/science.1253171
M3 - Article
C2 - 25124434
AN - SCOPUS:84906095512
VL - 345
SP - 791
EP - 795
JO - Science (New York, N.Y.)
JF - Science (New York, N.Y.)
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 6198
ER -