Mapping the Zone of Avoidance with Arecibo

由于我们银河系中尘埃和高恒星密度的遮挡，我们在大约20%的天空中看不到河外宇宙，这个区域被称为避光区（ZOA）。这是一个问题，因为局部流场和局部群动力学演化的研究需要对质量不均匀性进行全天映射。尽管深光学和红外搜索已经缩小了ZOA的范围，但这两种方法在高消光和恒星混乱的区域都失败了。幸运的是，21厘米波长的无线电观测可以发现含有中性氢的星系，即使是在最厚的遮挡区和最严重的红外拥挤区。这种成功的方法将与阿雷西博望远镜一起用于发现新的星系，探测大尺度结构，几乎肯定会发现我们银河系隐藏的新特征。这个试点项目将从ZOA的两个小部分开始，作为全面调查的试验台。除了对学生进行培训外，这项工作还将扩大阿雷西博用户社区，并为这个西班牙裔服务机构的教育工作提供支持，目标是新墨西哥州和西南部大量服务不足的人口。

AST-0506676HenningThe obscuration due to dust and the high stellar density in our Galaxy blocks our optical view of the extragalactic Universe over some twenty percent of the sky, a region known as the Zone of Avoidance (ZOA). This is a problem, because studies of local flow fields and of the dynamical evolution of the Local Group require all-sky mapping of mass inhomogeneities. Although the ZOA has been narrowed by deep optical and infrared searches, both fail in regions of high extinction and stellar confusion. Fortunately, radio observations at a wavelength of 21 centimeters can find galaxies containing neutral hydrogen, even in regions of the thickest obscuration and the worst infrared crowding. This successful method will be used with the Arecibo telescope to discover new galaxies, probe large-scale structures, and almost certainly discover new features hidden by our own Milky Way. This pilot project will start with two small portions of the ZOA as test-beds for the full survey.As well as student training, this work will broaden the Arecibo user community and feed into education efforts from this Hispanic-Serving Institution, targeting a large under-served population in New Mexico and the southwest.