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D.M. Sfeir (SSL/UCB and CNRS), R. Lallement (CNRS), F. Crifo (DASGAL/OPM), B.Y. Welsh (SSL/UCB)
We present preliminary results from a long-term program of mapping the neutral absorption characteristics of the Local Bubble region, taking advantage of Hipparcos stellar distances. Equivalent widths of the NaI D-line doublet at 5890Å\ are presented for the lines-of-sight towards some 143 new target stars lying within 300 pc of the Sun. Using these data which were obtained at the Observatoire de Haute Provence, together with previously published NaI absorption measurements towards a further 313 nearby targets, we present absorption maps of the distribution of neutral gas in the local interstellar medium as viewed from 3 different galactic projections.
These maps clearly reveal the Local Bubble region as a large low neutral density interstellar cavity in the galactic plane with radii between 65 - 250pc that is surrounded by a (dense) neutral gas boundary (or ``shell'').
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