ATLASGAL
ATLASGAL is the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy,
an ongoing
observing programme with the LABOCA bolometer array at APEX, located at
5100 m altitude on Chajnantor, Chile. This survey aims at mapping
360 square degrees at 870 microns in the inner Galaxy, with a uniform
sensitivity of a few solar masses at 1 kpc distance.
This project is a collaboration between the Max Planck Gesellschaft
(MPG: Max Planck Institute für Radioastronomie, MPIfR Bonn, and
Max Planck Institute für Astronomie, MPIA Heidelberg),
the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Universidad de Chile.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION !!!
This survey is ongoing... This web site is in construction phase...
Quick facts
The first data for the ATLASGAL project were obtained in 2007, shortly
after the successful commissioning of the Large APEX Bolometer Camera
(LABOCA), an array of 295 bolometers observing in the 850 micron
atmospheric window, built by the
Millimeter and Submillimeter Astronmy group in the Max Planck Institut
für Radioastronomie
(MPIfR). This instrument is installed at the Cassegrain focus of
the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment
(APEX), a 12 meter submillimeter telescope located on Chajnantor.
The maps observed in 2007 cover nearly 100 square degrees, in the
Galactic longitude range -30° to +21°, over -1° to +1°
in latitude.
In 2008, a two-year large programme has been started, aimed at:
- covering ±80° in longitude, over ±1.5°
in latitude
- covering again ±40° in longitude, over ±1°
in latitude
The different coverages are shown in the figure below.
The goal is to reach a pixel-to-pixel rms of 40 to 70 mJy/beam,
which rougly corresponds to 5-sigma detection of 1022
cm-2 column density of H2, or 50 solar masses
of dense cold gas and dust at a distance of 5 kpc.
This colour image is from IRAS data, at 12 microns (blue),
60 microns (green) and 100 microns (red). The coverages of
the ATLASGAL data obtained in 2007, and planned for 2008-2009
are indicated.
(click for full view...)
Publications
On 2009 July 1st, ESO and the MPIfR both issued a press release:
A full description of the first data, with first results as well
as longer term perspectives of the project, are given in a paper
to appear soon in A&A. The full paper is available for download
from the
A&A web site.
Here is a poster that was presented in 2008, during the
NRAO/ALMA Workshop in Charlottesville, VA (2008 Sept. 25-27).
(click for full view...)
What next?
The observations are ongoing. In 2008, we have covered more than
300 square degrees of the Galactic Plane. As of 2009 July, the full
region (360 square degrees) has been covered at least once. Until the
end of this year, we plan to re-observe a smaller part in the inner
Galaxy to improve the sensitivity in the innermost regions, and to
repeat a few observations where extra noise is present in the data.
A catalogue of more than 6000 compact sources has been extracted
from the data observed in 2007. This catalogue
will be published shortly, with a forthcoming paper. It will also be
available online, on the present web site.
Several follow-up studies in spectral lines have been started.
We plan to also include line identifications in the catalogue that
will be online, together with identifications with sources seen
in other surveys (IRAS, MSX, GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL).
