Planned observations of hot gas in the LISM

Abstract

We plan to observe hot gas in the local interstellar medium (LISM) at high resolution using a rocket-borne spectrograph that can simultaneously observe OVI, NV and CIV at resolutions of 1 – 2 km s⁻¹. Data from a single flight will have sufficient signal to noise ratio to detect a broad 50 km s⁻¹ component down to a column density of N ≥ 0.5 × 10¹³ cm⁻². High-velocity components as fast as 300 km s⁻¹ can be detected. New high resolution observations of hot gas absorption line profiles will probe the kinematics of the local bubble, and comparison between the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen profiles will allow discrimination between the various production models.