Keywords: interstellar matter; local fluff; local interstellar matter; heliosphere; interaction between heliosphere and surrounding interstellar cloud. URL: http://astro.uchicago.edu/~frisch/

Scientific Visualizations

* Astronomical and Heliosphere Visualizations and Animation

Quicktime movie animation, and data description, of heliosphere moving through Space. Single frames from animation: View 1tail. View 2, View 3, View 4, View 5. Data sources: MHD heliosphere model -- Dr. Timur Linde (University of Chicago); Stars -- the Hipparcos star catalog; Milky Way -- Mellinger Milky Way Galaxy image. (Copyright policy: Permission should be requested for commercial and/or non-educational use of these images -- hanson@cs.indiana.edu, frisch@oddjob.uchicago.edu). All uses should include appropriate credit to Hanson and Frisch and copyright acknowledgement to Indiana University. Permission will be granted for noncommercial educational uses, and for most other uses.)

The Cosmic Clock Video is a visualizaion of the expansion of the Universe, including multiple data sets such as the Tully catalog of galaxies and the Hipparcos data sets. It has been published in the proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2000 . To purchase this video please use the video order form and ask for "SIGGRAPH Video Review Issue 134", containing "The Cosmic Clock" by Hanson et al. (or see this link)

* Contributions to Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Here is a visualization of the Satellite Swarm around the Earth. Visualization of Heliosphere using Dr. Timur Linde's MHD 3D model, which includes the interstellar magnetic field tipped by ~60 degrees with respect to the ecliptic plane. Visualization of Local Bubble, showing the molecular clouds delimiting Local Bubble walls in the galactic center hemisphere. (Or, alternatively see this page.) Visualization of the Local Fluff, (or see URL). The science behind this model is explained in Frisch (1994, Science, v265,p1423, "Morphology and Ionization of the Interstellar Cloud Surrounding the Solar System"), and below. This is the configuration expected for an expanding superbubble model for the Local Bubble, Superbubble at Sun. View of Local Bubble from directly above the galactic plane. The Local Bubble wall positions are based on the reddening of starlight, based on Lucke (1978, Astronomy and Astrophysics, v74, p367).

* Science Underlying Local Fluff Visualization:

It appears that the Local Fluff is part of an expanding superbubble, based on the gas kinematics and abundances. This model of the Local Fluff is based on the assumption that the Local Fluff velocity vector in the Local Standard of Rest is parallel to the surface normal, or alternatively perpendicular to the cloud surface. The original science paper is Frisch (1994, Science, v265,p1423, "Morphology and Ionization of the Interstellar Cloud Surrounding the Solar System"). My recent discussion of local interstellar gas as part of an expanding superbubble is on the astroph archive, at S1 Shell and Interstellar Gas at the Heliosphere . The original discussion linking the kinematics and abundances of interstellar gas at the Sun to the Loop I supernova remnant is my Nature article The Nearby Interstellar Medium.

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