On the origin of the galactic ridge recombination lines

Radio recombination lines are known to be observable at positions along the galactic ridge which are free of discrete continuum sources. Based on the results of a recent survey of H272α lines it is shown that most of the observed galactic ridge recombination lines can be explained as emission from outer low-density envelopes of normal Hn regions. The distribution of low-density ionized gas and discrete HII regions as a function of the distance from the galactic centre is also derived.