| Type |
Conference Paper |
| Names |
Nitish Chopra, L. M. Haffner, R. J. Reynolds, G. J. Madsen, A. S. Hill, K. A. Barger, K. P. Jaehnig, E. J. Mierkiewicz, J. W. Percival, N. M. Pingel, D. T. Reese, M. C. Gostisha |
| Conference Name |
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society |
| Volume |
43 |
| Pages |
25107 |
| Date |
January 1, 2011 |
| Short Title |
The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper Sky Survey |
| URL |
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011AAS...21725107C |
| Library Catalog |
NASA ADS |
| Abstract |
After a year of observations from its new location on Cerro Tololo, the
Wisconsin Hα Mapper (WHAM) has nearly completed survey
observations below δ < -30°. This new data combined with
the Northern Sky Survey provides the first kinematic, all-sky survey of
diffuse Hα from the Milky Way. Aside from many large-scale,
locally-ionized regions, much of this emission arises from the Warm
Ionized Medium (WIM), a diffuse but thick component of the ISM that
extends several kiloparsecs into the Galactic halo. WHAM was designed
primarily to study the WIM, delivering a spatially integrated spectrum
from a one-degree beam on the sky covering 200 km s-1 with 12
km s-1 spectral resolution. The short exposures of the survey
reach sensitivity levels of about 0.1 R (EM 0.2 pc cm-6)
and reveal emission toward nearly every direction in the sky. Here, we
present our early efforts at reducing this new southern dataset and
offer a first look at the global distribution and kinematics of diffuse
ionized gas throughout the Galaxy. WHAM and the research presented here
are funded by NSF award AST-0607512. We also thank the excellent and
responsive staff at CTIO in Chile for helping to keep our remote
installation fully operational. |