Gaia Data Release 3: Exploring and mapping the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm
| Autor: | Gaia collaboration, Schultheis, M., Zhao, H., Zwitter, T., Marshall, D. J., Drimmel, R., Frémat, Y., Bailer-Jones, C. A. L., Recio-Blanco, A., Kordopatis, G., de Laverny, P., Andrae, R., Dharmawardena, T. E., Fouesneau, M., Sordo, R. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: |
kinematics and dynamics [ISM]
Space and Planetary Science Astronomy Astronomy and Astrophysics lines and bands [ISM] dust extinction Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Physical Organic Chemistry Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics |
| Zdroj: | Astronomy & Astrophysics Astronomy & Astrophysics, 674, pp. 1-25 Davidson, M, Hambly, N C, Mann, R G, Morris, D & Rowell, N & Voutsinas, S 2023, ' Gaia Data Release 3. Exploring and mapping the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm ', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 674, A40, pp. 1-25 . https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202243283 |
| ISSN: | 0004-6361 |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202243283 |
| Popis: | Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are common interstellar absorption features in spectroscopic observations but their origins remain unclear. DIBs play an important role in the life cycle of the interstellar medium (ISM) and can also be used to trace Galactic structure. Here, we demonstrate the capacity of the Gaia-Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) in Gaia DR3 to reveal the spatial distribution of the unknown molecular species responsible for the most prominent DIB at 862 nm in the RVS passband, exploring the Galactic ISM within a few kiloparsecs from the Sun. The DIBs are measured within the GSP-Spec module using a Gaussian profile fit for cool stars and a Gaussian process for hot stars. In addition to the equivalent widths and their uncertainties, Gaia DR3 provides their characteristic central wavelength, width, and quality flags. We present an extensive sample of 476.117 individual DIB measurements obtained in a homogeneous way covering the entire sky. We compare spatial distributions of the DIB carrier with interstellar reddening and find evidence that DIB carriers are present in a local bubble around the Sun which contains nearly no dust. We characterised the DIB equivalent width with a local density of $0.19 \pm 0.04$ Angstr\"om/kpc and a scale height of $\rm 98.60_{-8.46}^{+11.10}$ pc. The latter is smaller than the dust scale height, indicating that DIBs are more concentrated towards the Galactic plane. We determine the rest-frame wavelength with unprecedented precision ($\rm \lambda_{0} = 8620.86\, \pm 0.019$ Angstr\"om in air) and reveal a remarkable correspondence between the DIB velocities and the CO gas velocities, suggesting that the 862 nm DIB carrier is related to macro-molecules. Comment: This is a Gaia Performance Verification Paper accepted for publication in A&A. The full author list is in the paper |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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