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Dirbe evidence for a wrap in the interstellar dust layer and stellar disk of the galaxyThe Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) has mapped the surface brightness distributions of the Galactic plane at wavelengths from 1.25 to 240 micrometers. In these maps the latitude of peak brightness, as a function of longitude, traces a roughly sinusoidal curve of period approximately 360 deg. In the far-infrared, where emission by interstellar dust dominates the surface brightness, this curve agrees well with that derived from maps of the velocity-integrated H 1, suggesting that the layers of dust and neutral atomic hydrogen are similarly displaced from the Galactic plane. In the near-infrared (lambda less than 5 micrometers), where old disk stars dominate the emission, the brightness crest exhibits the same phase but roughly half the amplitude. The reduced amplitude of the warp in stellar light could result from a lesser warping of the stellar disk, or from a more rapid falloff of the density of stars relative to the density of gas, possibly due to a radial truncation of the disk.
Document ID
19950028607
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Freudenreich, H. T.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Berriman, G. B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Dwek, E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Hauser, M. G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kelsall, T.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Moseley, S. H.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Silverberg, R. F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Sodroski, T. J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Toller, G. N.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Weiland, J. L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
July 10, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal
Volume: 429
Issue: 2, pt
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astronomy
Accession Number
95A60206
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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