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Extraterrestrial Lyman alpha
Author(s) -
Tinsley B. A.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg009i001p00089
Subject(s) - astrobiology , interplanetary dust cloud , extraterrestrial life , physics , interplanetary spaceflight , astronomy , interplanetary medium , solar system , heliosphere , solar wind , cosmic dust , astrophysics , plasma , quantum mechanics
Theoretical work and observations on extraterrestrial Lyman α are reviewed. A source of extraterrestrial Lyman α near the solar apex is probably scattering of solar Lyman α on cold interplanetary hydrogen that has penetrated to the inner solar system. A minor source of interplanetary hydrogen comes from the breakup of comets. Galactic sources of Lyman α are probably also present, and such emission would tend to be rendered isotropic, depending on the amount of interstellar hydrogen in the near vicinity of the solar system.