Map of Partially Ionized Interstellar Gas (IMAGE) Astronomy & Astrophysics Caption Fig. 1 -- Map of partially ionized interstellar gas within 300 parsecs around the sun, as viewed in the Galactic plane. Triangles represent the sight-line positions of the stars used to produce the map. White to dark shading represents the low to high values of the gas density, and orange shading is for areas with no reliable measurement. The Local Cavity is shown as the white area of low density gas that surrounds the sun at about 80 parsecs. Credit <i>Astronomy & Astrophysics</i> Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.