Wrapping Together Galactic Archaeology and Interstellar Medium Studies in Large Spectroscopic Surveys

摘要

The cold interstellar medium (ISM) in our galaxy is usually observed at wavelengths other than optical. But optical spectroscopic surveys of stars give unprecedented information that is valuable also for ISM studies because they cover millions of lines-of-sight penetrating regions in and out of the Galactic plane that most all-sky surveys. Big advantages are distances to observed stars from which we infer distances to clumps of the ISM. The ISM is detected as scarce absorptions of several atoms and simple molecules and also as diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), weak but numerous ab- sorption features at visible and near IR wavelengths. With the enormous amount of information the surveys provide we can start doing galactic archaeology from the ISM point of view. Even though the principles are very different for star and gas dynamics, the starting points are the same. Here we present some results that are the first steps toward the galactic archaeology of the ISM.