RUI: Completion of the Wide-Angle H-alpha Survey of the Southern Sky

RUI：完成南方天空广角 H-alpha 巡天

• 批准号: 9900622
• 负责人: John Gaustad
• 金额: $ 4.8万
• 依托单位: Swarthmore College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-07-01 至 2001-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9900622&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Completion; Wide; Angle; alpha

This award is for the support of a wide-angle imaging survey of the Southern sky at 656.3 nm wavelength, the wavelength of the H-Alpha emission line of hydrogen. This project was begun in 1997 and this award provides support to complete the project. Each image of the survey covers an area of the sky 12.6 minutes of angle in diameter at an angular resolution of about one arcminute, and reaches a sensitivity level of one Rayleigh (6 x 10- 18 erg CM-2 s- I arcsec-2). This corresponds to an emission measure of 2 cm-6 pc, and to a brightness temperature for microwave free-free emission of 6 microKelvin at 30 GHz. The survey uses a CCD detector, a commercial camera lens, and narrow-band interference filters. This instrumentation is mounted on a robotic telescope platform located at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. As of October 1998, the survey was about 60% complete, and it is expected to finish the survey in 1999. The survey will provide accurate measurement of anisotropies in the Galactic free-free emission at microwave wavelengths (or proof that these are negligible). This observed emission must be subtracted from satellite or ground-based measurements to obtain the true cosmic microwave background fluctuations. The analysis of the data from the survey will produce detailed information on the structure of the diffuse, warm, ionized component of the interstellar medium. This information is necessary for understanding the dynamics of the interstellar gas. The images will be made available to the astronomical community as an H-Alpha Atlas of the Southern Sky, which will be distributed on CD-ROM disks and made available on the World Wide Web. Participation by several undergraduate students in the project will enhance their understanding of the nature of scientific research.

该奖项是为了支持在656.3 nm波长对南方天空进行的广角成像测量，该波长是氢的H-Alpha发射线的波长。该项目始于1997年，该奖项为完成该项目提供了支持。每幅测量图像覆盖了天空中直径12.6分钟的角度，角分辨率约为1角分，灵敏度达到1瑞利(6x10-18erg CM-2 S-Iarcsec-2)。这相当于2厘米-6pC的发射测量，以及在30 GHz下6微开尔文的无微波发射的亮度温度。这项调查使用了一个ccd探测器、一个商用相机镜头和窄带干涉滤光片。该仪器安装在位于智利Cerro Tololo美洲天文台的机器人望远镜平台上。截至1998年10月，调查已完成约60%，预计将于1999年完成调查。这项调查将准确测量银河系在微波波长的自由辐射中的各向异性(或证明这些各向异性可以忽略)。这种观测到的辐射必须从卫星或地面测量中减去，才能得到真正的宇宙微波背景波动。对调查数据的分析将提供有关星际介质中弥散的、温暖的、电离成分的结构的详细信息。这些信息对于理解星际气体的动力学是必要的。这些图像将作为南方天空的H-Alpha地图集向天文学团体提供，该地图集将以光盘形式分发，并在万维网上提供。几名本科生参与该项目将加深他们对科学研究本质的理解。