Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jun 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010sptz.prop70165k&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #70165
Computer Science
Scientific paper
Interstellar dust affects the chemistry and energy budget of galaxies, and can profoundly affect studies of the distant universe. However, very little is known about the nature of interstellar dust in normal galaxies beyond the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. A direct way to probe dust in galaxies is by using partially overlapping (backlit) pairs of galaxies. While this technique has been applied to a few galaxy pairs, it has been used primarily with optical data in B and I bands (and occasionally K band), which are all subject to substantial amounts of dust extinction. Here we propose to observe 15 backlit pairs/polar ring galaxies in IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 micron bands which are much less affected by dust. Our goals are: (1) to obtain essentially un-extinguished reference images for comparison with the existing optical images and thus to determine dust extinction more accurately across different parts of the foreground galaxies; (2) to determine the opacity of some nearby spiral disks and examine whether dust grain sizes decrease in outer parts of disks; (3) to probe large-scale dust structure in some elliptical galaxies; (4) to examine whether dust exhibits fractal structure; and (5) to map star formation rate across the galaxies using the 3.6/4.5 micron flux ratio. The very local nature of our sample allows a detailed look at dust properties at different positions within the galaxies, and examine what galaxy properties drive the variation in dust properties. Our study will provide new implications for observations of the distant universe that are necessarily affected by the presence of dust in foreground galaxies.
Higdon James J.
Higdon Sarah
Kulkarni Varsha
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