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P. C. Frisch (Dept. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Univ. of Chicago), A. J. Hanson (Computer Science Department, Indiana University, Bloomington)
We show the results of an analysis giving context to the "empty'' space around us by reconstructing and visualizing the Galactic surroundings of the Sun and nearby stars. A software tool, the Distance Editing Tool (developed in portable OpenGL), provides a method for investigating the 3-dimensional configuration of the Local Bubble and Complex of Nearby Interstellar Clouds.
Multispectral data sets provide the basis for evaluating the physical conditions of cold neutral and molecular clouds which compose the "walls'' of the Local Bubble. The strategy is to use emission maps (HI 21-cm, CO 1-0 rotational line) to establish the 2-Dimensional positions and cloud types, and use the shadowing properties of interstellar matter (including absorption lines and reddening of starlight) to establish the distance and physical properties of the emission features.
The Distance Editing Tool is part of a suite of software tools developed under NASA AISRP grant NAG 5-8163 for the purpose of modeling and visualizing the Galactic Environment of the Sun. This software can be extended to reconstruct 3-dimensional models of the volume distribution of any material giving rise to absorption lines, provided the distances of the background target objects are known.
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