Statistical properties of interstellar clouds

Abstract

Scans of the interstellar 7699-A line of K I in the spectra of 26 stars show that the K I lines are highly appropriate for a study of the local statistical distributions of several observable properties of interstellar clouds and, in principle, of the intercloud medium. A description is presented of the distribution functions obtained from the currently available sample of 37 interstellar clouds, measured toward 17 stars. It is pointed out that a very considerable expansion of this sample should be possible in the immediate future.