Models of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way suggest that the observed abundances of elements heavier than helium ('metals') require a continuous infall of gas with metallicity (metal abundance) about 0.1 times the solar value. An infall rate integrated over the entire disk of the Milky Way of approximately 1 solar mass per year can solve the 'G-dwarf problem'--the observational fact that the metallicities of most long-lived stars near the Sun lie in a relatively narrow range. This infall dilutes the enrichment arising from the production of heavy elements in stars, and thereby prevents the metallicity of the interstellar medium from increasing steadily with time. However, in other spiral galaxies, the low-metallicity gas needed to provide this infall has been observed only in associated dwarf galaxies and in the extreme outer disk of the Milky Way. In the distant Universe, low-metallicity hydrogen clouds (known as 'damped Ly alpha absorbers') are sometimes seen near galaxies. Here we report a metallicity of 0.09 times solar for a massive cloud that is falling into the disk of the Milky Way. The mass flow associated with this cloud represents an infall per unit area of about the theoretically expected rate, and approximately 0.1-0.2 times the amount required for the whole Galaxy.

Spatial variations of the [S ii]/Halpha and [N ii]/Halpha line intensity ratios observed in the gaseous halo of the Milky Way and other galaxies are inconsistent with pure photoionization models. They appear to require a supplemental heating mechanism that increases the electron temperature at low densities, ne. This would imply that in addition to photoionization, which has a heating rate per unit volume proportional to n2e, there is another source of heat with a rate per unit volume proportional to a lower power of ne. One possible mechanism is the dissipation of interstellar plasma turbulence, which, according to Minter & Spangler, heats the ionized interstellar medium in the Milky Way at a rate of approximately 1x10-25ne ergs cm-3 s-1. If such a source were present, it would dominate over photoionization heating in regions where ne less, similar0.1 cm-3, producing the observed increases in the [S ii]/Halpha and [N ii]/Halpha intensity ratios at large distances from the galactic midplane as well as accounting for the constancy of [S ii]/[N ii], which is not explained by pure photoionization. Other supplemental heating sources, such as magnetic reconnection, cosmic rays, or photoelectric emission from small grains, could also account for these observations, provided they supply approximately 10-5 ergs s-1 per square centimeter of the Galactic disk to the warm ionized medium.

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The first observations of the recently completed Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) facility include a study of emission lines from high velocity clouds in the M, A, and C complexes, with most of the observations on the M I cloud. We present results including clear detections of Hα emission from all three complexes with intensities ranging from 0.06 to 0.20 R. In every observed direction where there is significant high velocity H I gas seen in 21 cm emission we have found associated ionized hydrogen emitting the Hα line. The velocities of the Hα and the 21 cm emissions are well correlated in every case except one, but the intensities are not correlated. There is some evidence that the ionized gas producing the Hα emission envelopes the 21 cm emitting neutral gas but the Hα "halo", if present, is not large. If the Hα emission arises from the photoionization of the H I clouds, then the implied incident Lyman continuum flux F LC at the location of the clouds ranges from 1.3 to 4.2 × 10 5 photons cm −2 s −1 . If, on the other hand, the ionization is due to a shock arising from the collision of the high-velocity gas with an ambient medium in the halo, then the density of the pre-shocked gas can be constrained. We have also detected the [S II] λ6716 line from the M I cloud and have evidence that the [S II] λ6716 to Hα ratio varies with location on the cloud.

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