Interstellar medium facts for kids
In astronomy, the interstellar medium (sometimes called the ISM) is the tenuous gas and dust that fills the void between stellar systems in galaxies, that consisting mainly of huge clouds of ionized, netral, or moleculer hydrogen. This gas and dust not distributed uniformly in interstellar space, but displays significant variations in density, temperature, and ionization state.
Various gases exist in outer space. Most common are hydrogen and helium. Interstellar cosmic dust makes nebulae.
Images for kids
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The distribution of ionized hydrogen (known by astronomers as H II from old spectroscopic terminology) in the parts of the Galactic interstellar medium visible from the Earth's northern hemisphere as observed with the Wisconsin Hα Mapper (Haffner and others 2003).
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Voyager 1 is the first artificial object to reach the interstellar medium.
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Three-dimensional structure in Pillars of Creation.
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Map showing the Sun located near the edge of the Local Interstellar Cloud and Alpha Centauri about 4 light-years away in the neighboring G-Cloud complex
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Atmospheric attenuation in dB/km as a function of frequency over the EHF band. Peaks in absorption at specific frequencies are a problem, due to atmosphere constituents such as water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
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The Potsdam Great Refractor, a double telescope with an 80cm (31.5") and 50 cm (19.5") lenses inaugurated in 1899, used to discover interstellar calcium in 1904.
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Herbig–Haro object HH 110 ejects gas through interstellar space.
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This light-year-long knot of interstellar gas and dust resembles a caterpillar.
See also
In Spanish: Medio interestelar para niños
