ICATE   21876
INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS ASTRONOMICAS, DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Extending the Nearby Galaxy Heritage with WISE: First Results from the WISE Enhanced Resolution Galaxy Atlas
Autor/es:
JARRETT, T.H.; MASCI, F.; TSAI, CHAO-WEI; PETTY, S.; CLUVER, M.E.; ASSEF, R. J.; BENFORD, D.; BLAIN, A. W.; BRIDGE, C.; DONOSO, E.; EISENHARDT, P.; KORIBALSKI, B.; LAKE, S.; NEILL, J.D.; SEIBERT, M.; SHETH, K.; STANDORD, S.A.; WRIGHT, E.
Revista:
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
Editorial:
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012 vol. 145 p. 6 - 40
ISSN:
0004-6256
Resumen:
The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mapped the entire sky at
mid-infrared wavelengths 3.4 um, 4.6 um, 12 um, and 22 um. The mission was
primarily designed to extract point sources, leaving resolved and extended
sources, for the most part, unexplored. Accordingly, we have begun a dedicated
WISE Enhanced Resolution Galaxy Atlas (WERGA) project to fully characterize
large, nearby galaxies and produce a legacy image atlas and source catalog. Here
we demonstrate the first results of the WERGA project for a sample of 17
galaxies, chosen to be of large angular size, diverse morphology, and covering a
range in color, stellar mass, and star formation. It includes many well-studied
galaxies, such as M 51, M 81, M 87, M 83, M 101, and IC 342. Photometry and
surface brightness decomposition is carried out after special super-resolution
processing, achieving spatial resolutions similar to that of Spitzer Infrared
Array Camera. The enhanced resolution method is summarized in the first paper of
this two-part series. In this second work, we present WISE, Spitzer, and Galaxy
Evolution Explorer (GALEX) photometric and characterization measurements for the
sample galaxies, combining the measurements to study the global properties. We
derive star formation rates using the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon sensitive
12 um (W3) fluxes, warm-dust sensitive 22 um (W4) fluxes, and young massive-star
sensitive ultraviolet (UV) fluxes. Stellar masses are estimated using the 3.4 um
(W1) and 4.6 um (W2) measurements that trace the dominant stellar mass content.
We highlight and showcase the detailed results of M 83, comparing the
WISE/Spitzer results with the Australia Telescope Compact Array H I gas
distribution and GALEX UV emission, tracing the evolution from gas to stars. In
addition to the enhanced images, WISE's all-sky coverage provides a tremendous
advantage over Spitzer for building a complete nearby galaxy catalog, tracing
both stellar mass and star formation histories. We discuss the construction of a
complete mid-infrared catalog of galaxies and its complementary role of studying
the assembly and evolution of galaxies in the local universe.