Work

Searching for Galactic hidden gas through interstellar scintillation: results from a test with the NTT-SOFI detector

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Aims. Stars twinkle because their light propagates through the atmosphere. The same phenomenon is expected at a longer time scale when the light of remote stars crosses an interstellar molecular cloud, but it has never been observed at optical wavelength. In a favorable case, the light of a background star can be subject to stochastic fluctuations on the order of a few percent at a characteristic time scale of a few minutes. Our ultimate aim is to discover or exclude these scintillation effects to estimate the contribution of molecular hydrogen to the Galactic baryonic hidden mass. This feasibility study is a pathfinder toward an observational strategy to search for scintillation, probing the sensitivity of future surveys and estimating the background level.

Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201015260

Authors: F. Habibi, M. Moniez, R. Ansari, S. Rahvar

Institutions: Université Paris-Sud, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sharif University of Technology, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2038345123

FWCI: 0.533

Cites: 28

Cited by: 13

Related to: 10