Warm-hot intergalactic medium
| alt label |
|
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dcterms modified |   |
||||||||||||||||
| broader |
|
||||||||||||||||
| definition | The space containing a cluster of galaxies filled with a tenuous gas of temperature 105 to 107 K and density 10-6 to 10-4 cm-3. WHIM has been continuously shock-heated during the process of structure formation. It is so highly ionized that it can only absorb or emit far-ultraviolet and soft X-ray photons, primarily at spectral lines of highly ionized C, O, Ne, and Fe. WHIM is thought to be the main reservoir of missing baryons. | ||||||||||||||||
| type |
|
||||||||||||||||
| contributor | AAS_Frey.Katie original | ||||||||||||||||