* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

Candidate planetary nebulae

Blobrana · L

RE: IPHAS Survey

Blobrana · L

The deepest-ever survey of our galaxy has been released by a collaboration of more than 50 astronomers, including members of the UCL Circumstellar and Interstellar Environments Group.
Conducted by looking at light emitted by hydrogen ions, using the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma, the survey contains stunning red images of nebulae and stars. The data is described in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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www.iphas.org

Blobrana · L

Astronomers throughout the UK now have a valuable new research tool at their disposal which may lead to new discoveries and improved understanding of the physics of the Universe.
Launched this week, AstroGrid provides a unique way of accessing, processing and storing astronomical data obtained from a diverse range of data archives held anywhere on Earth. AstroGrid will open the way for virtual observing on individual computers, enabling astronomers to compare and manipulate a wide range of astronomical data taken from both ground and space-based telescopes.

Source

Blobrana · L

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Blobrana · L

The released data contains the observations carried out in the first two years of observations from 2003 to the end of 2005. The database contains about 200 million objects (most of them repeated twice) covering an area of 1700 sq. deg.. The figure below shows the coverage of these data in galactic coordinates.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 22:59, 2007-12-10

Blobrana · L

The IPHAS survey will eventually be extended to cover the entire galactic plane of our galaxy, with a coverage approaching 4000 square degrees (for comparison, the moon on the sky as seen from Earth covers 0.1 square degrees).

The iphas initial data release and associated paper
The iphas emitter catalogue and associated paper
The main iphas website and the paper describing the overall survey

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 22:48, 2007-12-10

Blobrana · L

A collaboration of over 50 astronomers, The IPHAS consortium, led from the UK, with partners in Europe, USA, Australia, has released today (10th December 2007) the first comprehensive optical digital survey of our own Milky Way. Conducted by looking at light emitted by hydrogen ions, using the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma, the survey contains stunning red images of nebulae and stars. The data is described in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
To date, the IPHAS survey includes some 200 million unique objects in the newly released catalogue. This immense resource will foster studies that can be at once both comprehensive and subtle, of the stellar demographics of the Milky Way and of its three-dimensional structure.

Using the distinctive Hydrogen marker we are able to look at some of the least understood stars in the Galaxy those at the early and very late stages of their life cycles. These represent less than one in a thousand stars, so the IPHAS data will greatly improve our picture of stellar evolution - Professor Janet Drew of the University of Hertfordshire.

IPHAS is embracing a recent change in the way astronomers share data. As well as being available through traditional web access it is also being published through a Virtual Observatory interface, where it can automatically be cross-referenced with other relevant data catalogues.

Using the standard Virtual Observatory interface is a very effective way of exploiting the IPHAS survey data. This is a substantial and significant survey, which aims to eventually contain 7-800 million objects. Access through the AstroGrid Virtual Observatory opens up a full range of analysis options and should allow astronomers to make greater use of the information. IPHAS is the largest dataset published primarily through Virtual Observatory interfaces to date, and as such heralds the future of survey data mining - Dr Nic Walton of the University of Cambridge.

This initial data release is of observations of the Northern Plane of the Milky Way (the star filled section) that cover 1600 sq deg, in two broadband colours, and a narrow band filter sensitive to the emission of Hydrogen in the red part of the spectrum (H-alpha emission). The image resolution is high enough to permit the detection of individual stars exhibiting H-alpha emission, in addition to the diffuse gas that makes up the often-beautiful glowing nebulae that lower spatial resolution surveys have made known to us before.
The IPHAS database is already revealing a wealth of new science. For example, IPHAS team members from the University of Southampton,
have led an effort to extract and catalogue the brighter H-alpha emission line stars revealed so far by the survey. This list of nearly 5000 objects is already the longest single list of its kind. The distribution of these special objects, across the northern sky, traces 'hot spots' of recently formed stars in our Galaxy much more convincingly than has been possible hitherto.
The IPHAS survey will eventually be extended to cover the entire galactic plane of our galaxy, with a coverage approaching 4000 square degrees (for comparison, the moon on the sky as seen from Earth covers ~0.1 square degrees).

Source Science and Technology Facilities Council

Blobrana · L

Title: Initial Data Release from the INT Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS)
Authors: E. A. Gonzalez-Solares, N. A. Walton, R. Greimel, J. E. Drew, M. J. Irwin, S. E. Sale, K. Andrews, A. Aungwerojwit, M. J. Barlow, E. van den Besselaar, R. L. M. Corradi, B. T. Gaensicke, P. J. Groot, A. S. Hales, E. C. Hopewell, H. Hu, J. Irwin, C. Knigge, E. Lagadec, P. Leisy, J. R. Lewis, A. Mampaso, M. Matsuura, B. Moont, L. Morales-Rueda, R. A. H. Morris, T. Naylor, Q. A. Parker, P. Prema, S. Pyrzas, G. T. Rixon, P. Rodriguez-Gil, G. Roelofs, L. Sabin, I. Skillen, J. Suso, R. Tata, K. Viironen, J. S. Vink, A. Witham, N. J. Wright, A. A. Zijlstra, A. Zurita, J. Drake, J. Fabregat, D. J. Lennon, P. W. Lucas, E. L. Martin, D. Steeghs, Y. C. Unruh

The INT/WFC Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS) is an imaging survey being carried out in H-alpha, r' and i' filters, with the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-metre Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) to a depth of r'=20 (10 sigma). The survey is aimed at revealing large scale structure in our local galaxy, and also the properties of key early and late populations making up the Milky Way. Mapping emission line objects enables a particular focus on objects in the young and old stages of stellar evolution ranging from early T-Tauri stars to late planetary nebulae. In this paper we present the IPHAS Initial Data Release, primarily a photometric catalogue of about 200 million unique objects, coupled with associated image data covering about 1600 square degrees in three passbands. We note how access to the primary data products has been implemented through use of standard virtual observatory publishing interfaces. Simple traditional web access is provided to the main IPHAS photometric catalogue, in addition to a number of common catalogues (such as 2MASS) which are of immediate relevance. Access through the AstroGrid VO Desktop opens up the full range of analysis options, and allows full integration with the wider range of data and services available through the Virtual Observatory. The IDR represents the largest dataset published primarily through VO interfaces to date, and so stands as an examplar of the future of survey data mining. Examples of data access are given, including a cross-matching of IPHAS photometry with sources in the UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey that validates the existing calibration of the best data.

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