The Nearby Universe with 2MASS

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AST-0406906HuchraDespite major progress in observational cosmology, there remain several questions of significance that could be answered with a new look at the nearby Universe. This research will measure the local distributions of baryons and matter using the 2 Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). The primary goal is the creation of a catalog with redshifts for more than 100,000 galaxies and velocity-independent distances for more than 10,000 galaxies, which will be the only complete, all-sky map of the nearby Universe. Note that the only proven method for detecting and measuring dark matter on scales of tens of mega-parsecs is to measure the galaxy peculiar velocity field. These data will then be used for various studies of galaxy density, types and properties, and of the galaxy flow fields, non-linear biasing, and structure formation. Significant education and public outreach activities will include graduate, undergraduate, and high school student research, public talks, a bilingual (English/Spanish) interactive web site, and prompt availability of the data.