Observations of O VI

Abstract

A useful spectroscopic tracer for a hot phase of interstellar gas is the O VI ion, which reaches its maximum concentration in collisional ionization between 100,000 and 1 million K. Presently, over 70 stars have been observed for O VI absorption by the Copernicus satellite. Nearly all of the stars show broad weak lines, but no evidence favoring a circumstellar origin for the gas can be found. An overall average for the electron density of the hot gas in the galactic plane is of the order of 0.001 per cu cm. The relative volume in space occupied by the hot-gas regions (and hence their internal density) is uncertain, but a filling factor in the range from 0.02 to 0.2 seems most plausible. Fluctuations in radial velocities and column densities suggest there are roughly 6 regions per kpc, each with an O VI column density of approximately 10 trillion per sq cm. The observed rms dispersion of radial velocities for these regions is 26 km/s.