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3D mapping of the dense interstellar gas around the Local Bubble
We present intermediate results from a long-term program of mapping theneutral absorption characteristics of the local interstellar medium,motivated by the availability of accurate and consistent parallaxes fromthe Hipparcos satellite. Equivalent widths of the interstellar NaID-line doublet at 5890 Å are presented for the lines-of-sighttowards some 311 new target stars lying within ~ 350 pc of the Sun.Using these data, together with NaI absorption measurements towards afurther ~ 240 nearby targets published in the literature (for many ofthem, in the directions of molecular clouds), and the ~ 450lines-of-sight already presented by (Sfeir et al. \cite{sfeir99}), weshow 3D absorption maps of the local distribution of neutral gas towards1005 sight-lines with Hipparcos distances as viewed from a variety ofdifferent galactic projections.The data are synthesized by means of two complementary methods, (i) bymapping of iso-equivalent width contours, and (ii) by densitydistribution calculation from the inversion of column-densities, amethod devised by Vergely et al. (\cite{vergely01}). Our present dataconfirms the view that the local cavity is deficient in cold and neutralinterstellar gas. The closest dense and cold gas ``wall'', in the firstquadrant, is at ~ 55-60 pc. There are a few isolated clouds at closerdistance, if the detected absorption is not produced by circumstellarmaterial.The maps reveal narrow or wide ``interstellar tunnels'' which connectthe Local Bubble to surrounding cavities, as predicted by the model ofCox & Smith (1974). In particular, one of these tunnels, defined bystars at 300 to 600 pc from the Sun showing negligible sodiumabsorption, connects the well known CMa void (Gry et al. \cite{gry85}),which is part of the Local Bubble, with the supershell GSH 238+00+09(Heiles \cite{heiles98}). High latitude lines-of-sight with the smallestabsorption are found in two ``chimneys'', whose directions areperpendicular to the Gould belt plane. The maps show that the LocalBubble is ``squeezed'' by surrounding shells in a complicated patternand suggest that its pressure is smaller than in those expandingregions.We discuss the locations of several HI and molecular clouds. Usingcomparisons between NaI and HI or CO velocities, in some cases we areable to improve the constraints on their distances. According to thevelocity criteria, MBM 33-37, MBM 16-18, UT 3-7, and MBM 54-55 arecloser than ~ 100 pc, and MBM 40 is closer than 80 pc. Dense HI cloudsare seen at less than 90 pc and 85 pc in the directions of the MBM 12and MBM 41-43 clouds respectively, but the molecular clouds themselvesmay be far beyond. The above closest molecular clouds are located at theneutral boundary of the Bubble. Only one translucent cloud, G192-67, isclearly embedded within the LB and well isolated.These maps of the distribution of local neutral interstellar NaI gas arealso briefly compared with the distribution of both interstellar dustand neutral HI gas within 300 pc.Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp:cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/411/447
| The distance to the nearest star-forming clouds: MBM12 and MBM20
We present high-resolution spectra (R ~ 49,000) of stars that haveparallax measurements from the Hipparcos satellite and are projectedalong the line of sight to the two nearest known star forming clouds tothe Sun: MBM12 and MBM20. The spectra were obtained with the FOCESEchelle Spectrograph at the 2.2 meter telescope in Calar Alto, Spain andthe wavelength range was chosen to include the interstellar Na I D linesat lambda 5889.950 Ä and lambda 5895.924 Ä. Since the starsare at a range of distances, we use their spectra along with theirparallaxes from Hipparcos to determine the distance to the moleculargas. The stars in front of the cloud do not show interstellar Na I Dabsorption features while the stars behind the cloud do showinterstellar absorption features. We find that both clouds are somewhatmore distant than previously estimated. The revised distance to MBM12 is58+/-5 pc < d < 90+/-12 pc and the distance to MBM20 is 112+/-15pc < d < 161+/-21 pc.
| UVBY observations of A, F, G and K field stars
Photoelectric data in the uvby system have been obtained for about 800southern stars of the Hipparcos Input Catalog (Grenon, 1982, 1985). Mostof the stars are F and G main sequence and fall in the magnitude range V= 8-11.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Éridan |
| Right ascension: | 04h39m05.32s |
| Declination: | -15°12'58.9" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 9.345 |
| Proper motion RA: | 33.7 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -66.5 |
| B-T magnitude: | 10.167 |
| V-T magnitude: | 9.413 |
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