A team led by UCF’s Anish Roshi has made a breakthrough related to ionized helium emissions that could provide clues to physical conditions across the Milky Way. The discovery sheds light on the ionization state of the material that fills the space between stars. “This can provide a better understanding of how energy flows from stars to the interstellar medium in the inner region of the galaxy works,” says Roshi.

Astronomers have wondered why specific wavelengths of light known as helium spectral lines are faint or missing in the diffuse ionized gas in the inner Milky Way. Using the Green Bank Telescope, the team detected radio spectral lines from helium in diffuse ionized gas in the Cygnus X region. The detection demonstrates that helium within the diffuse gas associated with this region is fully ionized.

• Anish Damodaran