[164.01] Distance Limits to High Velocity Clouds

AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 164 Extra-galactic ISM - Near to Far
Oral, Wednesday, 2:00-3:30pm, January 11, 2006, Balcony A

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[164.01] Distance Limits to High Velocity Clouds

C. R. Thom (Swinburne), M. E. Putman (UMich), B. K. Gibson (Swinburne), N. Christlieb (Hamburger Sternwarte), C. Flynn (Tuorla Observatory), T. C. Beers (MSU)

We present the first results of a programme to constrain the distances to High-Velocity Clouds. Such distance limits have been keenly sought for more than 40 years, yet remain elusive. Field Horizontal Branch stars have been selected from the Hamburg/ESO Survey, and correlated with the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey to identify suitable stars aligned with high column-density HVC gas. Echelle spectra of these stars have provided distance constraints to several HVCs. A distance limit to HVC Complex WB will be discussed. Detection of this HVC in absorption gives a direct distance constraint, placing it within the Milky Way halo. This constraint stands in contrast to predictions that the cloud is extra-galactic.

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