[Previous] | [Session 25] | [Next]
E. Churchwell (U. Wisconsin), GLIMPSE Team
The GLIMPSE team will image the inner galaxy in all IRAC bands from 10 to 70 degrees on either side of the Galactic center and one degree above and below the plane (240 square degrees). The survey will be fully sampled and will reach the confusion limit in all IRAC bands at longitudes \leq 50 deg. At longitudes > 50 deg, the 5.8 and 8.0 \mum bands may be flux limited. GLIMPSE will: 1) produce a complete census of star formation in the inner galaxy; 2) measure the stellar disk scale length; 3) delineate the stellar structure of the molecular ring, inner spiral arms and bar as traced by the distributions of stars and star formation regions; 4) determine the luminosity and initial mass functions of all nearby star formation regions and clusters down to the stellar limit or below (for the nearest regions); 5) detect all young O and B stars still embedded in their natal clouds; 6) detect and identify young stellar objects (surrounded by circumstellar disks) in nearby star forming regions; 7) determine the mid-IR interstellar extinction law in dense regions; and, 8) detect a host of other types of stars and nebulae such as supernovae, planetary nebulae, hidden galaxies, OH/IR stars, LBVs, etc. that will be of interest to a large fraction of the astronomical community. An additional value of a large, unbiased Galactic plane survey is its potential for new discoveries that might otherwise be missed by piecemeal imaging of selected regions. We expect to detect and catalog ~ 108 sources. This program is funded by NASA through the SIRTF Science Center (SSC).
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://www.astro.wisc.edu/d/dort/ebc/sirtf3/AAS_Abst.pdf. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.