Mapping the Zone of Avoidance with Arecibo

我们银河系中的尘埃和高密度恒星造成的遮挡遮挡了我们对银河系外宇宙的光学观察，覆盖了大约20%的天空，这一区域被称为避光区(ZOA)。这是一个问题，因为研究局部流场和局部群的动态演化需要质量不均匀的全天映射。尽管ZOA通过深度光学和红外搜索缩小了范围，但在高度消光和恒星混淆的区域两者都失败了。幸运的是，在21厘米波长的射电观测可以发现含有中性氢的星系，即使在遮挡最厚、红外拥挤最严重的地区也是如此。这一成功的方法将与阿雷西博望远镜一起用于发现新的星系，探测大规模结构，并几乎肯定地发现隐藏在我们银河系中的新特征。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床。除了学生培训，这项工作还将扩大阿雷西博用户社区，并为这个为拉美裔服务的机构的教育努力提供支持，目标是新墨西哥州和西南部的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.