The distribution of interstellar matter toward Tycho's supernova remnant and its relation to distance estimates.

Abstract

Observations of interstellar absorption lines in the spectra of five stars in the direction of Tycho's Supernova Remnant are presented. The profiles show significant absorption at large negative velocities, - 50 to - 60 km/s (LSR). This information, together with the distances of the background stars, permits limiting distances to be assigned to the corresponding velocity components in the H I 21-cm line absorption spectrum of the supernova remnant itself. The 21-cm absorption line data for Tycho's Supernova Remnant are entirely consistent with a distance as small as 2 kpc. Distances based upon simple kinematic models of galactic rotation can be confused by well-known noncircular motions in this direction. The interstellar line data also reveal a relatively high column density of CO toward HD 108.