1. The Wisconsin Hα Mapper Northern Sky Survey
- Author
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L. M. Haffner, R. J. Reynolds, S. L. Tufte, G. J. Madsen, K. P. Jaehnig, and J. W. Percival
- Subjects
Physics ,Spiral galaxy ,Zodiacal light ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Local standard of rest ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Galactic plane ,01 natural sciences ,Orion–Eridanus Superbubble ,Galaxy ,Space and Planetary Science ,Sky ,0103 physical sciences ,Spectral resolution ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,media_common - Abstract
The Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) has surveyed the distribution and kinematics of ionized gas in the Galaxy above declination -30 degrees. The WHAM Northern Sky Survey (WHAM-NSS) has an angular resolution of one degree and provides the first absolutely-calibrated, kinematically-resolved map of the H-Alpha emission from the Warm Ionized Medium (WIM) within ~ +/-100 km/s of the Local Standard of Rest. Leveraging WHAM's 12 km/s spectral resolution, we have modeled and removed atmospheric emission and zodiacal absorption features from each of the 37,565 spectra. The resulting H-Alpha profiles reveal ionized gas detected in nearly every direction on the sky with a sensitivity of 0.15 R (3 sigma). Complex distributions of ionized gas are revealed in the nearby spiral arms up to 1-2 kpc away from the Galactic plane. Toward the inner Galaxy, the WHAM-NSS provides information about the WIM out to the tangent point down to a few degrees from the plane. Ionized gas is also detected toward many intermediate velocity clouds at high latitudes. Several new H II regions are revealed around early B-stars and evolved stellar cores (sdB/O). This work presents the details of the instrument, the survey, and the data reduction techniques. The WHAM-NSS is also presented and analyzed for its gross properties. Finally, some general conclusions are presented about the nature of the WIM as revealed by the WHAM-NSS.
- Published
- 2003
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