Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21360601r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #606.01
Other
Scientific paper
We plan to use the Fabry-Perot system on the 10-m class Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to obtain an extensive determination of the kinematics and metallicity of stars in the inner Galaxy. We are motivated by the success of our previous work done on the CTIO 1.5m telescope, where the efficiency of the Fabry-Perot technique allowed us to obtain a large sample (about 3500) of stellar radial velocities and line strengths using the CaII 8542 line, along three lines-of-sight. From this large sample we were able to determine accurately the higher velocity moments of the bar's velocity distribution, and detect the radial streaming motions. We were also able to reliably infer metallicities from the line strengths using Fabry-Perot spectra for the first time.
We present here a planned expansion of this study, and its implications for understanding the inner Galaxy. SALT's much greater aperture and larger field-of-view will enable us to measure more than 2000 stars along a single line-of-sight in just an hour of observing time. We will investigate at least 10 lines-of-sight along the major axis of the bar, obtaining 15000 - 20000 stellar spectra that will provide us with full line-of-sight velocity and metallicity distributions. This data set will provide the basis for models of the structure and chemical evolution of the Galactic bar and bulge. We can also investigate the long bar suggested by recent Spitzer observations and search for hypervelocity stars. This increase by another order of magnitude in the size of the data sample will revolutionize the studies of the inner Galaxy.
Rangwala Naseem
Williams Ted B.
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