H I region

An H I region is an interstellar cloud composed of neutral atomic hydrogen (H I), in addition to the local abundance of helium and other elements. These regions are non-luminous, save for emission of the 21-cm (1,420 MHz) region spectral line. This line has a very low transition probability, so requires large amounts of hydrogen gas for it to be seen. At ionization fronts, where H I regions collide with expanding ionized gas (such as an H II region), the latter glows brighter than it otherwise would. The degree of ionization in an H I region is very small at around 10^-4 (i.e. one particle in 10,000). The temperature of an H I region is about 100 K, and it is usually considered as isothermal, except near an expanding H II region. Near an expanding H II region is a dense H I region, separated from the undisturbed H I region by a shock front and from the H II region by an ionization front.

Mapping H I emissions with a radio telescope is a technique used for determining the structure of spiral galaxies. It is also used to map gravitational disruptions between galaxies. When two galaxies collide, the material is pulled out in strands, allowing astronomers to determine which way the galaxies are moving.