Table · dataset · 2026
Sightlines candidates for observing ISM CII absorption
Listed in IVOA Registry (Virtual Observatory)
Carbon plays key roles in the interstellar medium (ISM)-as a constituent of dust, as the carrier of the dominant far-infrared (FIR) cooling line, and as a component of various important molecules.
Description
But despite this, there are very few measurements of the abundance and depletion of carbon in the diffuse ISM. As with other elements, these measurements are traditionally performed in the ultraviolet.
But for carbon, such measurements are extremely difficult, and fewer than 20 have been reported in the literature to date. Here, we present a novel method of measuring the abundance and depletion of carbon in the diffuse ISM: by observing absorption of the 158um [C II] line in the FIR. We present a catalog of 432 candidate sightlines that use bright nearby galaxies as background sources, and predict the [C II] absorption expected toward each.
Read the rest (2 more)
We conducted a pilot study using SOFIA, targeting sightlines toward the galaxies IC 342 and Circinus. We report a potential detection of Galactic [C II] absorption along the IC 342 sightline, although it requires disentangling [C II] emission from IC 342 itself. The Circinus sightline had an insufficiently stable instrumental baseline to allow a detection.
This SOFIA study informs the prospects for [C II] absorption measurements with future facilities. To that end, we explore the potential for four proposed future FIR telescopes-PRIMA, FIRSST, SALTUS, and Origins-to detect [C II] absorption. We find that all four facilities would be able to detect [C II] absorption along a significant number of sightlines.
Links
Where it is published
- Reference page cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/170/8 ↗
landing page · from IVOA Registry
Documentation and papers
- ADS 2025AJ....170....8C ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025AJ....170....8C ↗
publication · from IVOA Registry
Catalogue records · 2
- VOResource record dc.g-vo.org/oai.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=ivo_vor&identifier=ivo%3… ↗
metadata API · from IVOA Registry
- Registry record (GAVO) dc.g-vo.org/I/cds.vizier/j/aj/170/8 ↗
catalogue entry · from IVOA Registry
Topics
- Stated by source
- Infrared
- From keywords
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
Provenance · 1 source records, 8 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| IVOA Registry (Virtual Observatory) | ivo://cds.vizier/j/aj/170/8 | 15 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:astronomy | mapping · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[modality].ivoa_waveband:infrared | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | rr.resource.res_description |
| license_text | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| publication_date | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 | rr.resource.res_title |
| updated_date | source · IVOA Registry | connector:ivoa_registry@1.0.0 |