Project Overview		Software Development
	How will it be done?		Results / Conclusions
	Trial & Error		Final Report
	Choosing the right criteria		Check these out

 

 

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

Introduction

The research I worked on this summer is part of the preparations for a bigger project titled GLIMPSE. The Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire is one of six Legacy Science programs to be carried out with NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), to be launched in December of this year. The GLIMPSE survey will image the inner two-thirds of our Galaxy in four different wavelength bands (3.5, 4.5, 5.8 and 8 microns) down to the confusion limit with a spatial resolution of less that two arcseconds. The field of interest will cover about 220 square degrees between Galactic longitudes ±10-65 degrees on both sides of the Galactic Center, expecting to archive over 50 million point sources.

My work specifically focuses on dark molecular clouds found on the plane of our Galaxy, mostly concentrated towards the Galactic center, where star formation is most likely to occur. Using point-source data aquired by 2MASS in the H and K bands, our goal is to develop a technique that will allow us to pick out these dark clouds across the entire galactic plane. Once this has been done, we will then work towards cataloguing and labeling these dark clouds. This information will assist in upcoming observations to be made with the soon to be launched SIRTF telescope.

• Will assist in knowing the location of star formation regions, since dark clouds are made up of molecular gas that will eventually compress to form stars.

• The final product of this project is to develop a catalogue for publication listing the location, size, color excess and stellar density of dark clouds in the entire galactic plane.

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