Other
Scientific paper
May 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006sptz.prop30570b&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #30570
Other
Scientific paper
Galaxies are three-dimensional stellar systems, but for external galaxies, we are limited to studying a two dimensional projection. There is only one system where we can obtain a three dimensional view: our own Milky Way. Fundamental questions of vertical Galactic stellar structure can be most profitably pursued in investigations of our own Galaxy, but studies of stellar distributions with 2MASS and other near IR surveys in the inner Galaxy have been fundamentally limited by extinction. Investigations with COBE/DIRBE have shown that the mid-infrared is the optimum wavelength range for studies of Galactic stellar structure; early results using data from the GLIMPSE confirm this. However, GLIMPSE data is insufficient to constrain the vertical scaleheights of the different components of the Galaxy. We propose to use IRAC for 254.5 hours to map 112 square degrees in a series of latitude strips above and below the Galactic plane in all four IRAC bands. These latitude strips will stretch up to |b|<4.2 deg around the central region of the Galaxy (|l|<2 deg) and include Baade's window. They will cover |b|<3 deg for six latitude strips centered at l=3.5, 11, 15, 18.5, 25,and 30 deg. The resulting dataset can be used to determine the scaleheight of the Galactic bulge, the Galactic bar(s), the thin stellar disk, the Galactic ring, and the inner spiral arms, with a variety of different stellar tracers. Mosaicked images will be supplied to community, and a point source Catalog and Archive will be produced and merged with the 2MASS catalog, allowing the study of SEDs from 1-8 microns for all sources. This project will also enable many other scientific investigations, including off-plane star formation, studies of diffuse IR cirrus, and the vertical scaleheights of different stellar populations. The understanding of Milky Way stellar structure gained from this project will be an important legacy for Galactic and extragalactic researchers alike.
Babler Brian
Benjamin Robert
Blommaert Joris
Churchwell Edward
Cohen Martin
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