scholarly journals The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (BLAST) and BLASTPol

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S288) ◽  
pp. 154-160
Author(s):  
Enzo Pascale ◽  

AbstractBalloon observations from Antarctica have proven an effective and efficient way to address open Cosmological questions as well as problems in Galactic astronomy. The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimetre Telescope (BLAST) is a sub-orbital mapping experiment which uses 270 bolometric detectors to image the sky in three wavebands centred at 250, 350 and 500 μm with a 1.8 m telescope. In the years before Herschel launched, BLAST provided data of unprecedented angular and spectral coverage in frequency bands close to the peak of dust emission in star forming regions in our Galaxy, and in galaxies at cosmological distances. More recently, BLASTPol was obtained by reconfiguring the BLAST focal plane as a submillimetric polarimeter to study the role that Galactic magnetic fields have in regulating the processes of star-formation. The first and successful BLASTPol flight from Antarctica in 2010 is followed by a second flight, currently scheduled for the end of 2012.

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S284) ◽  
pp. 97-100
Author(s):  
George J. Bendo ◽  

AbstractWe use Herschel Space Observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope 70-500 μm data along with ground-based optical and near-infrared data to understand how dust heating in the nearby face-on spiral galaxies M81, M83, and NGC 2403 is affected by the starlight from all stars and by the radiation from star-forming regions. We find that 70/160 μm flux density ratios tend to be more strongly influenced by star-forming regions. However, the 250/350 and 350/500 μm micron flux density ratios are more strongly affected by the light from the total stellar populations, suggesting that the dust emission at > 250 μm originates predominantly from a component that is colder than the dust seen at <160 μm and that is relatively unaffected by star formation activity. We conclude by discussing the implications of this for modelling the spectral energy distributions of both nearby and more distant galaxies and for using far-infrared dust emission to trace star formation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 221 ◽  
pp. 275-282
Author(s):  
Vincent Minier

The newly upgraded Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at millimetre wavelengths is the first millimetre interferometer to be built in the Southern Hemisphere. The full array will be operational in 2004-2005 and will provide arcsec angular resolution at 3 mm and 12 mm. This will be a unique instrument to study at high angular resolution the interstellar chemistry and more generally the star formation process, especially in the bulk of the galactic plane and in the Magellanic Clouds. The upgraded ATCA will also be an excellent tool to detect dust emission from nearby protoplanetary disks. In this paper I will present the first results from the upgraded ATCA at 3 mm and 12 mm. The result review will cover the topics of massive star formation and hot molecular cores dust emission from star-forming regions and detection of protoplanetary disks.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S262) ◽  
pp. 454-455
Author(s):  
Hong-Xin Zhang ◽  
Yu Gao ◽  
Xu Kong

AbstractIncluding MIPS 24 μm dust emission in the multi-band stellar population analysis, we roughly constrain the star formation histories (SFHs) of MIPS 24 μm selected star-forming regions across the merging disks of the Antennae galaxies. While the overlap regions hold the highest ratios of young over intermediate populations, the western-loop regions have the highest ratios of intermediate to old populations. We find two sequential star formation (SF) paths in the overlap regions, which we interpret as the imprint of the interpenetrating process of the two merging disks following their second close encounter.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S336) ◽  
pp. 323-324
Author(s):  
Sonu Tabitha Paulson ◽  
Jagadheep D. Pandian

AbstractMethanol masers at 6.7 GHz are the brightest of class II methanol masers and have been found exclusively towards massive star forming regions. These masers can thus be used as a unique tool to probe the early phases of massive star formation. We present here the SED studies of 284 methanol masers chosen from the MMB catalogue, which falls in the Hi-GAL range (|l| ≤ 60°, |b| ≤ 1°). The masers are studied using the ATLASGAL, MIPSGAL and Hi-GAL data at wavelengths ranging from 24−870 micrometers. A single grey body component fit was used to model the cold dust emission whereas the emission from the warm dust is modelled by a black body. The clump properties such as isothermal mass, FIR luminosity and MIR luminosity were obtained using the best fit parameters of the SED fits. We discuss the physical properties of the sources and explore the evolutionary stages of the sources having 6.7 GHz maser emission in the timeline of high mass star formation.


Author(s):  
D. D. Lisitsin ◽  
◽  
A. V. Kuzin ◽  

We developed a technique for selecting star forming complexes in external galaxies based on an analysis of radiation maps in various spectral bands. Using this method, we identified star formation complex candidates in 17 nearby galaxies applying three criteria. These criteria are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission, dust emission, and ultraviolet young star emission. Relating the information derived from these criteria, we made a sample of star forming regions suitable for revealing correlations between various star formation tracers.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (H15) ◽  
pp. 417-417
Author(s):  
F. S. Tabatabaei ◽  
R. Beck ◽  
E. Berkhuijsen

The radio–infrared correlation holds within galaxies down to scales of about 50 pc (Hughes et al. 2006). It was explained as a direct and linear relationship between star formation and IR emission. However, one fact making the IR-star formation linkage less obvious is that the IR emission consists of at least two emission components, cold dust and warm dust. The cold dust emission may not be directly linked to the young stellar population. Furthermore, understanding the origin of the radio–IR correlation requires to discriminate between the two main components of the radio continuum emission, free-free and synchrotron emission. Although cosmic ray electrons originates also from the star forming regions (supernovae remnants; final episodes of massive stars), the synchrotron–IR correlation may not be as tight as thermal–IR correlation locally, as a result of convection and diffusion of the cosmic ray electrons from their place of birth. The magnetic field distribution may further modify the correlation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. A60 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Cañameras ◽  
N. P. H. Nesvadba ◽  
M. Limousin ◽  
H. Dole ◽  
R. Kneissl ◽  
...  

We report the discovery of a molecular wind signature from a massive intensely star-forming clump of a few 109 M⊙, in the strongly gravitationally lensed submillimeter galaxy “the Emerald” (PLCK_G165.7+49.0) at z = 2.236. The Emerald is amongst the brightest high-redshift galaxies on the submillimeter sky, and was initially discovered with the Planck satellite. The system contains two magnificient structures with projected lengths of 28.5″ and 21″ formed by multiple, near-infrared arcs, falling behind a massive galaxy cluster at z = 0.35, as well as an adjacent filament that has so far escaped discovery in other wavebands. We used HST/WFC3 and CFHT optical and near-infrared imaging together with IRAM and SMA interferometry of the CO(4–3) line and 850 μm dust emission to characterize the foreground lensing mass distribution, construct a lens model with LENSTOOL, and calculate gravitational magnification factors between 20 and 50 in most of the source. The majority of the star formation takes place within two massive star-forming clumps which are marginally gravitationally bound and embedded in a 9 × 1010 M⊙, fragmented disk with 20% gas fraction. The stellar continuum morphology is much smoother and also well resolved perpendicular to the magnification axis. One of the clumps shows a pronounced blue wing in the CO(4–3) line profile, which we interpret as a wind signature. The mass outflow rates are high enough for us to suspect that the clump might become unbound within a few tens of Myr, unless the outflowing gas can be replenished by gas accretion from the surrounding disk. The velocity offset of –200 km s−1 is above the escape velocity of the clump, but not that of the galaxy overall, suggesting that much of this material might ultimately rain back onto the galaxy and contribute to fueling subsequent star formation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (S321) ◽  
pp. 214-216
Author(s):  
Linda C. Watson

AbstractWe found that star-forming regions in extended ultraviolet (XUV) disks are generally consistent with the molecular-hydrogen Kennicutt-Schmidt law that applies within the inner, optical disk. This is true for star formation rates based on Hα + 24 μm data or FUV + 24 μm data. We estimated that the star-forming regions have ages of 1 − 7 Myr and propose that the presence or absence of molecular gas provides an additional “clock” that may help distinguish between aging and stochasticity as the explanation for the low Hα-to-FUV flux ratios in XUV disks. This contribution is a summary of the work originally presented in Watson et al. (2016).


2020 ◽  
Vol 644 ◽  
pp. A34
Author(s):  
G. Sabatini ◽  
S. Bovino ◽  
A. Giannetti ◽  
F. Wyrowski ◽  
M. A. Órdenes ◽  
...  

Context. Deuteration has been suggested to be a reliable chemical clock of star-forming regions due to its strong dependence on density and temperature changes during cloud contraction. In particular, the H3+ isotopologues (e.g. ortho-H2D+) seem to act as good proxies of the evolutionary stages of the star formation process. While this has been widely explored in low-mass star-forming regions, in the high-mass counterparts only a few studies have been pursued, and the reliability of deuteration as a chemical clock remains inconclusive. Aims. We present a large sample of o-H2D+ observations in high-mass star-forming regions and discuss possible empirical correlations with relevant physical quantities to assess its role as a chronometer of star-forming regions through different evolutionary stages. Methods. APEX observations of the ground-state transition of o-H2D+ were analysed in a large sample of high-mass clumps selected from the ATLASGAL survey at different evolutionary stages. Column densities and beam-averaged abundances of o-H2D+ with respect to H2, X(o-H2D+), were obtained by modelling the spectra under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium. Results. We detect 16 sources in o-H2D+ and find clear correlations between X(o-H2D+) and the clump bolometric luminosity and the dust temperature, while only a mild correlation is found with the CO-depletion factor. In addition, we see a clear correlation with the luminosity-to-mass ratio, which is known to trace the evolution of the star formation process. This would indicate that the deuterated forms of H3+ are more abundant in the very early stages of the star formation process and that deuteration is influenced by the time evolution of the clumps. In this respect, our findings would suggest that the X(o-H2D+) abundance is mainly affected by the thermal changes rather than density changes in the gas. We have employed these findings together with observations of H13CO+, DCO+, and C17O to provide an estimate of the cosmic-ray ionisation rate in a sub-sample of eight clumps based on recent analytical work. Conclusions. Our study presents the largest sample of o-H2D+ in star-forming regions to date. The results confirm that the deuteration process is strongly affected by temperature and suggests that o-H2D+ can be considered a reliable chemical clock during the star formation processes, as proved by its strong temporal dependence.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S270) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
R. Rao ◽  
J.-M. Girart ◽  
D. P. Marrone

AbstractThere have been a number of theoretical and computational models which state that magnetic fields play an important role in the process of star formation. Competing theories instead postulate that it is turbulence which is dominant and magnetic fields are weak. The recent installation of a polarimetry system at the Submillimeter Array (SMA) has enabled us to conduct observations that could potentially distinguish between the two theories. Some of the nearby low mass star forming regions show hour-glass shaped magnetic field structures that are consistent with theoretical models in which the magnetic field plays a dominant role. However, there are other similar regions where no significant polarization is detected. Future polarimetry observations made by the Submillimeter Array should be able to increase the sample of observed regions. These measurements will allow us to address observationally the important question of the role of magnetic fields and/or turbulence in the process of star formation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document