The Hi Distribution of the Milky Way

Abstract

Neutral atomic hydrogen (Hi) traces the interstellar medium (ISM) over a broad range of physical conditions. Its 21-cm emission line is a key probe of the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way Galaxy. About 50 years after the first detection of the 21-cm line the exploration of the Hi distribution of the Milky Way has undergone a true renaissance. This was triggered by several large-scale 21-cm surveys that became available within the past decade. New all-sky surveys unravel the shape and volume density distribution of the gaseous disk up to its borders. High-resolution Galactic plane surveys disclose a wealth of shells, filaments, and spurs that bear witness to the recycling of matter between stars and the ISM. All these observational results indicate that the Hi gas traces a dynamical Galactic ISM with structures on all scales, from tens of astronomical units to kiloparsecs. The Galaxy can be considered to be a violent, breathing disk surrounded by highly turbulent extra-planar gas.