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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                 2024 December 22   
      An artist's illustration shows where our Sun resides relative to local   
       interstellar gas. The direction of motion of the Sun and local gas is   
          shown with arrows. Please see the explanation for more detailed   
                                   information.   
      
                                  The Local Fluff   
            Illustration Credit: NASA, SVS, Adler, U. Chicago, Wesleyan   
      
      Explanation: The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way   
      Galaxy, about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called   
      the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform and shows   
      patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the   
      local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This   
      mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that   
      can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the   
      local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and   
      particle detections from the Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary   
      Exporer satellite (IBEX), is shown here. These observations indicate   
      that our Sun is moving through a Local Interstellar Cloud as this cloud   
      flows outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association star forming   
      region. Our Sun may exit the Local Cloud, also called the Local Fluff,   
      during the next 10,000 years. Much remains unknown about the local ISM,   
      including details of its distribution, its origin, and how it affects   
      the Sun and the Earth. Unexpectedly, IBEX spacecraft measurements   
      indicate that the direction from which neutral interstellar particles   
      flow through our Solar System is changing.   
      
           APOD Year in Review: Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024   
                           Tomorrow's picture: sky tree   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7   
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