GLIMPSE

• To Obtain GLIMPSE data:
  GLIMPSEI v2.0 Enhanced Data Products
  GLIMPSEII v1.0 Enhanced Data Products
  Summary of Products and Delivery Schedule
  
  
• GLIMPSE Publications
  
  
• GLIMPSE Documents
  
  
• Useful IR Web Tools
  
  
• Team Pages
  (password required)
  
  
• Picture Archives
  
  
• Bubbling Galactic Disk
  
  
• Survey/Processing Status
  
  
• 2005 AAS GLIMPSE Posters
  
  
• Survey Implementation
  
  
• Project Summary
  
  
• GLIMPSE Talks
  
  
• Objects in the GLIMPSE field
  
  
• 2MASS & MSX images in the GLIMPSE field
  
  
• Complementary Datasets
  
  
• Participants
  
  
• Misc team pictures
  
  
• About GLIMPSE and Spitzer
  
  
• Milky Way Surveys: The Structure & Evolution of Our Galaxy (The 5th Boston University Astrophysics Conference June 2003)
  
  
• Spitzer Legacy Programs
  
  
• Spitzer Education & Outreach
  
  
• News
  
  
• Spitzer home page
  
  

Star Formation and Dust in the Galactic Plane
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Carey(SSC/Caltech)
NASA/Spitzer Image Release: Where Galactic Snakes Live (October 27, 2006)

A GLIMPSE of the Milky Way
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/E.Churchwell (Univ. of Wisconsin)
NASA/Spitzer Image Release on GLIMPSE (l=326-335 deg) (December 12, 2005)

A New Star Cluster
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/E. Mercer (Boston University)
Spitzer Exposes Our Galaxy's Deepest Secrets (December 12, 2005)

Illustration courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)
GLIMPSE reveals a new look for the Milky Way (August 16, 2005)

Black Widow Nebula Hiding in the Dust
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/E.Churchwell (Univ. of Wisconsin)
NASA/Spitzer Image Release on the Black Widow Nebula (October 28, 2005)

Star Forming "Bubble" RCW 79
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/E.Churchwell (Univ. of Wisconsin)
NASA/Spitzer Image Release on RCW 79 (April 13, 2005)

Globular Cluster GLIMPSE-C01
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/H. Kobulnicky (Univ. of Wyoming)
NASA/Spitzer Press Release on Globular Cluster GLIMPSE-C01 (October 12, 2004 )

Spitzer/IRAC Image of RCW49
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/E. Churchwell (University of Wisconsin)
NASA/Spitzer Press Release on RCW49 (May 27, 2004)

Picture Archives

GLIMPSE: Spitzer IRAC Galactic Plane Survey
GLIMPSEII: Imaging the Central +-10 Degrees of the Galactic Plane with IRAC
GLIMPSE3D: The Vertical Stellar and Interstellar Structure of the Inner Galaxy
**All Observations Completed**

GLIMPSE - the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire - is a fully sampled, confusion limited, 4-band near- to mid-infrared survey of the inner two-thirds of the Galactic disk with a spatial resolution of ~2". The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) imaged 220 square degrees at wavelengths centered on 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns in the Galactic longitude range 10 deg to 65 deg on both sides of the Galactic center and in Galactic latitude +/- 1 deg.

The area covered by GLIMPSE contains most of the star formation activity in the Galaxy and ~70% of the molecular gas in the Galaxy. The inner cutoff at |l| = 10 deg permits adequate sampling of both ends of the purported ~3 kpc central bar and possibly some of the nuclear bulge stellar population. We expect to determine the asymmetry of the bar (brighter at l>0 deg) with high accuracy. The outer cutoff at |l| = 65 deg includes all of the 5 kpc molecular ring, the Sagittarius spiral arm tangent, and the Norma spiral arm tangent. The Galactic center region is not included because of its extreme background brightness and high confusion limits.

The GLIMPSE Survey will provide a comprehensive view of the stellar dust content in the inner Galaxy. The broad scope of this unbiased survey will provide a global understanding that studies of narrowly-defined, selected regions cannot. GLIMPSE will enable a wide range of stellar and interstellar science. The GLIMPSE team will focus on two important scientific questions:
(1) What is the structure of the inner Galaxy, including the disk, molecular ring, number and location of spiral arms, and central bar as traced by the spatial distribution of stars and IR- bright star formation regions?
(2) What are the statistics and physics of star formation as a function of mass, stage of evolution, and location in the Milky Way?

The team provides the following products: a high reliability GLIMPSE Point Source Catalog (GLMC), a GLIMPSE Point Source Archive (GLMA; ~5 sigma), and a Mosaiced Image Atlas of the entire surveyed area at all four IRAC bands, all of which will be made available via the Spitzer Data Archive. In addition, a set of web modeling tools will be provided that will permit users to analyze and interpret Spitzer and other IR data. The IPAC data archive can cross-reference the GLIMPSE catalogs with other databases in its archive such as 2MASS and MSX.