An analysis of Pannekoek's survey of the southern Milky Way.

Abstract

view Abstract Citations References Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS An analysis of Pannekoek's survey of the southern Milky Way. Limber, D. Nelson Abstract S. Chandrasekhar and G. Mu~nch have recently proposed a refinement to the current discrete cloud picture of the interstellar medium by describing the fluctuating distribution of the density in the medium in terms of a correlation function. On this latter picture they have determined the correlations in Milky Way brightness in two different directions for the case when the system extends to infinity along the line of sight and have compared their results with correlations in the galactic plane derived from Pannekoek's brightness charts of the southern Milky Way. In the present paper the analysis has been extended to the case of finite extent of the system. The desired angular correlations have been derived as functions of galactic latitude for the relevant ranges of the parameters. These results have been compared with correlations derived from Pannekoek's charts for the longitudes ranging from 2800 to 3400 in both the northern and southern latitudes. Comparison indicates that the general latitude effect given by the theory is present and that the results are consistent with a galactic half-thickness of 0.25 magnitude and an optical thickness To ~ 0.01 for the scale defined by the correlation function. Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis. Publication: The Astronomical Journal Pub Date: April 1952 DOI: 10.1086/106686 Bibcode: 1952AJ.....57...17L full text sources ADS |