O VI Absorption in the Milky Way Disk, and Future Prospects for Studying Absorption at the Galaxy‐IGM Interface

We present a brief summary of results from our FUSE program designed to study O VI absorption in the disk of the Milky Way. As a full analysis of our data has now been published, we focus on the improvements that FUSE afforded us compared to Copernicus data published thirty years ago. We discuss FUSE’S limitations in studying O VI absorption from nearby galaxies using background QSOs, but present FUSE spectra of two probes which indicate the absence of O VI (but the presence of Lyβ) absorption 8 and 63 kpc from a foreground galaxy. Finally, we discuss the need for a more sensitive UV spectrograph to map out the physical conditions of baryons around galaxies.