Sarah E. Tuttle

MAGPIS: A MULTI-ARRAY GALACTIC PLANE IMAGING SURVEY

We present the Multi-Array Galactic Plane Imaging Survey (MAGPIS), which maps portions of the first Galactic quadrant with an angular resolution, sensitivity and dynamic range that surpasses existing radio images of the Milky Way by more than an order of magnitude. The source detection threshold at 20 cm is in the range 1-2 mJy over the 85% of the survey region (5{sup o} < l < 32{sup o}, |b| < 0.8{sup o}) not covered by bright extended emission; the angular resolution is {approx} 6. We catalog over 3000 discrete sources (diameters mostly < 30) and present an atlas of {approx} 400 diffuse emission regions. New and archival data at 90 cm for the whole survey area are also presented. Comparison of our catalogs and images with the MSX mid-infrared data allow us to provide preliminary discrimination between thermal and non-thermal sources. We identify 49 high-probability supernova remnant candidates, increasing by a factor of seven the number of known remnants with diameters smaller than 50 in the survey region; several are pulsar wind nebula candidates and/or very small diameter remnants (D < 45). We report the tentative identification of several hundred H II regions based on a comparison with the mid-IR data; they range in size from unresolved ultra-compact sources to large complexes of diffuse emission on scales of half a degree. In several of the latter regions, cospatial nonthermal emission illustrates the interplay between stellar death and birth. We comment briefly on plans for followup observations and our extension of the survey; when complemented by data from ongoing X-ray and mid-IR observations, we expect MAGPIS to provide an important contribution to our understanding of the birth and death of massive stars in the Milky Way.

FIREBALL: the Faint Intergalactic medium Redshifted Emission Balloon: overview and first science flight results

FIREBALL (the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon) is a balloon-borne 1m telescope coupled to an ultraviolet fiber-fed spectrograph. FIREBALL is designed to study the faint and diffuse emission of the intergalactic medium, until now detected primarily in absorption. FIREBALL is a path finding mission to test new technology and make new constraints on the temperature and density of this gas. We report on the first successful science flight of FIREBALL, in June 2009, which proved every aspect of the complex instrument performance, and provided the strongest measurements and constraints on IGM emission available from any instrument.

The FIREBall fiber-fed UV spectrograph

FIREBall (Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon) had a successful first engineering flight in July of 2007 from Palestine, Texas. Here we detail the design and construction of the spectrograph. FIREBall consists of a 1m telescope coupled to a fiber-fed ultraviolet spectrograph flown on a short duration balloon. The spectrograph is designed to map hydrogen and metal line emission from the intergalactic medium at several redshifts below z=1, exploiting a small window in atmospheric oxygen absorption at balloon altitudes. The instrument is a wide-field IFU fed by almost 400 fibers. The Offner mount spectrograph is designed to be sensitive in the 195-215nm window accessible at our altitudes of 35-40km. We are able to observe Lyα, as well as OVI and CIV doublets, from 0.3 < z < 0.9. Observations of UV bright B stars and background measurements allow characterization of throughput for the entire system and will inform future flights.

FIREBALL: the first ultraviolet fiber fed spectrograph

FIREBall (the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon) is a balloon-borne 1m telescope coupled to an ultraviolet fiber-fed spectrograph. FIREBall is designed to study the faint and diffuse emission of the warm hot intergalactic medium, until now detected primarily in absorption. FIREBall is a pathfinding mission to test new technology and make new constraints on the temperature and density of this gas. FIREBall has flown twice, the most recent flight (June 2009) a fully functioning science flight. Here we describe the spectrograph design, current setup, and calibration measurements from the campaign.

FIREBALL: instrument pointing and aspect reconstruction

The Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBALL) had its first scientific flight in June 2009. The instrument is a 1 meter class balloon-borne telescope equipped with a vacuum-ultraviolet integral field spectrograph intended to detect emission from the inter-galactic medium at redshifts 0.3 < z < 1.0. The scientific goals and the challenging environment place strict constraints on the pointing and tracking systems of the gondola. In this manuscript we briefly review our pointing requirements, discuss the methods and solutions used to meet those requirements, and present the aspect reconstruction results from the first successful scientific flight.

FIREBALL: Detector, data acquisition and reduction

The Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBALL) had its first scientific flight in June 2009. The instrument combines microchannel plate detector technology with fiber-fed integral field spectroscopy on an unstable stratospheric balloon gondola platform. This unique combination poses a series of calibration and data reduction challenges that must be addressed and resolved to allow for accurate data analysis. We discuss our approach and some of the methods we are employing to accomplish this task.