The Local Interstellar Medium

Abstract

Substantial progress in the field of the Local Interstellar Medium has been largely due to recent launches of space missions, mostly in the UV and X-ray domains, but also to ground-based observations, mainly in high resolution spectroscopy. However, a clear gap seems to remain between the wealth of new data and the theoretical understanding. This paper gives an overview of some observational aspects, with no attempt of completeness or doing justice to all the people involved in the field. As progress rarely evolves in straight paths, we can expect that our present picture of the solar system surroundings is not definitive.

Astron. Astrophys. Rev.; 17 pages, 2 figures

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• The Ionization of the Local Interstellar Medium, as Revealed by FUSE Observations of N, O and Ar toward White Dwarf Stars
• A Dusty Disk Around WD1150-153: Explaining the Metals in White Dwarfs by Accretion from the Interstellar Medium versus Debris Disks
• A Survey of OVI Absorption in the Local Interstellar Medium
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• Thermal Pressures in Neutral Clouds inside the Local Bubble, as Determined from C I Fine-Structure Excitations
• Tiny-Scale Molecular Structures in the Magellanic Clouds (Part 1)
• Multi-wavelength observations of a nearby multi-phase interstellar cloud
• Does Transparent Hidden Matter Generate Optical Scintillation?