The QUEST RR Lyrae Survey

人们早就认识到，我们银河系晕中的恒星和星团是银河系中最古老的群体，因此，它们掌握着银河系最早进化时期的重要线索。尽管几十年来人们一直在研究光环的数量，但人们对它的结构和离银河系中心很远的地方的运动情况知之甚少。例如，我们不知道遥远的光晕是球形的还是扁平的，或者它的密度分布不是平滑的，而是与被潮汐破坏的卫星星系的恒星碎片流交错在一起。这些问题和相关问题将由耶鲁大学的Robert Zinn博士利用QUEST对天琴座RR变星的调查收集的数据进行调查。QUEST相机是一个4x4的2048 × 2048 ccd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上。自1998年11月以来，科学级别的数据一直在持续采集，其中包括一些将以此次获奖结束的天琴座RR巡天的数据。初步数据已经证明了完整调查的可行性，该调查计划覆盖总计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. ***