Table of Contents
Why is intergalactic medium hot?
The most violent, and therefore hottest, ejection of gas into the interstellar medium is from supernova explosions. When this material collides with the surrounding circumstellar or interstellar gas, it forms a shock wave that can heat the gas up to temperatures as high as 10 million K, forming a plasma.
What is the density of intergalactic medium?
about one atom per cubic meter
The average density of the intergalactic medium (IGM) is about one atom per cubic meter: less than a billionth of a billionth of the density of air on Earth. Despite that, astronomers have measured some properties of the IGM, enough to learn that its temperature is millions of degrees.
What does the intergalactic medium do?
Conceptually similar to WHIM, circumgalactic medium (CGM) is a halo of gas surrounding galaxies that is diffuse, and nearly invisible. Current thinking is that the CGM is an important source of star-forming material, and that it regulates a galaxy’s gas supply.
What is the intergalactic plasma?
Intergalactic space is the physical space between galaxies. The huge spaces between galaxy clusters are called the voids. Surrounding and stretching between galaxies, there is a rarefied plasma that is organized in a cosmic filamentary structure. This material is called the intergalactic medium (IGM).
Are there atoms in intergalactic space?
The deep vacuum of intergalactic space is not devoid of matter, as it contains a few hydrogen atoms per cubic meter. The temperature of outer space is measured in terms of the kinetic activity of the gas, as it is on Earth.
What are intergalactic gases?
Intergalactic gas is so tenuous that it emits no light of its own. Instead astronomers study it indirectly by observing how it selectively absorbs the light coming from faraway sources known as quasars.
What means intergalactic?
Definition of intergalactic 1 : situated in or relating to the spaces between galaxies. 2 : of, relating to, or occurring in outer space intergalactic battles.