Ionized Gas in the Galaxy: A Southern Hemisphere Perspective with the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper

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Dr. Lawrence Haffner and Dr. Ronald Reynolds, at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, along with Dr. Gregory Madsen at the Anglo Australian Observatory will move the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) instrument to a southern hemisphere site, and use it to survey the H-alpha emission from the southern sky over the course of 5 years. The end result, when combined with data from WHAM's northern survey, would be an all-sky survey at a resolution of one degree with a spectral resolution of 12 km/s over a 200 km/s window. The primary goal of the project is to advance our understanding of interstellar matter and processes within the disk and halo of the Milky Way. Ongoing WHAM observations also contribute to the fields of aeronomy, solar system astronomy, extragalactic astronomy, and cosmology. The project also provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student involvement, and delivers high-quality datasets for use by the entire astronomical community.