Low intensity H-beta emission from the interstellar medium

Pulsar pulse dispersions and low-frequency absorption of galactic and extragalactic radio sources strongly suggest that the interstellar medium is much more ionized than previously assumed. The search was confined to directions near pulsars because of the additional information provided by the dispersion measure which gives the total number of electrons along the line of sight to the pulsar. Of the four directions in which observations were made, an emission line appears to be present in at least two and possibly three directions. The data are shown from a low galactic latitude direction near the Crab Nebula pulsar. The observing direction was about 9 arcmin off the Crab with the field of view of about 1.5 arcmin. The number of counts was plotted versus the local standard of rest velocity and local standard wavelength of H-beta.