The QUEST RR Lyrae Survey

长期以来，人们一直认为，我们银河系光晕中的恒星和星团是银河系中最古老的种群，因此掌握着其最早演化时期的重要线索。尽管几十年来一直在研究光晕种群，但人们对它的结构和远离银河系中心时的运动学知之甚少。例如，我们不知道遥远的晕是球状的还是扁平的，或者它是否是与来自被潮汐摧毁的卫星星系的恒星碎片流交错在一起的，而不是平滑的密度分布。耶鲁大学的罗伯特·津恩博士将利用天琴座RR变星的QUEST调查收集的数据，对这些问题和相关问题进行研究。Quest相机是一个由2048x2048个CCD组成的4x4阵列，安装在委内瑞拉Llano del Hato天文台1.0米净孔径施密特望远镜的主焦点上。自1998年11月以来，科学级数据一直在采集，包括将以该奖项结束的RR天琴座调查的一些数据。初步数据已经证明了完整调查的可行性，该调查意在覆盖总共700平方度的天空。***

It has long been recognized that the stars and star clusters of the halo of our Galaxy are the oldest populations in the Milky Way, and therefore hold important clues to its earliest period of evolution. Despite decades of work on the halo population, little is known about its structure and its kinematics at large distances from the galactic center. It is not known, for example, if the distant halo is spherical or flattened, or if instead of a smooth density distribution, it is crisscrossed with stellar streams of debris from tidally destroyed satellite galaxies. These questions and related ones will be investigated by Dr. Robert Zinn, of Yale University, using the data collected by the QUEST survey for RR Lyrae variable stars. The QUEST camera is a 4x4 array of 2048x2048 CCDs mounted at the prime focus of the 1.0 meter clear aperture Schmidt telescope at the Llano del Hato Observatory in Venezuela. Science-grade data have been taken continuously since November 1998, including some data for the RR Lyrae survey that will be concluded with this award. The preliminary data have demonstrated the feasibility of the complete survey, which is intended to cover a total of 700 square degrees of the sky. ***