Infrared cirrus or galactic cirrus are galactic filamentary structures seen in space over most of the sky that emit far-

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

. The name is given because the structures are

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

-like in appearance. These structures were first detected by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite at

wavelength In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. In other words, it is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same ''phase (waves ...

s of 60 and 100

micrometre The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...

References

External links

Molecular Hydrogen in Infrared Cirrus
Kristen Gillmon, J. Michael Shull, 2006 Abstract *
PDF Paper

The Physics of Infrared Cirrus
C. Darren Dowell, Roger H. Hildebrand, Alexandre Lazarian, Michael W. Werner, Ellen Zweibel Interstellar media {{astrophysics-stub

See also

References

External links