The VISTA Variable Survey in the Via Lactea (VVV)

MINNITI, D.; LUCAS, P.W.; EMERSON, J.P; SAITO, R.K.; HEMPEL, M.; PIETRUKOWICZ, P.; AHUMADA, A.V.; ET AL.

Heidelberg, Alemania

Conferencia; The Milky Way and the Local Group - Now and in the Gaia Era; 2009

Heidelberg, Alemania Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Alemania

Over the next 5 years we will conduct an extensive survey of the galactic bulge and disk in the near-infrared, using the new VISTA telescope. This public survey covers a field of 520 sq deg, including not only regions of high star formation, but also 33 known globular clusters and ~ 350 open clusters. The final product will be a deep IR atlas in 5 passbands (Z,Y, J,H,Ks filter) for ~ 109 point sources among which we expect ~ 106 variable stars. These will produce a 3-D map of the surveyed region using well-understood primary distance indicators such as RR Lyrae stars. It will yield important informationon the ages of the populations. The observations will be combined with data from MACHO, OGLE, EROS, VST, SPITZER, HST, CHANDRA, INTEGRAL, and ALMA for a complete understanding of the variable sources in the inner Milky Way. Several important implications for the history of the Milky Way, for globular cluster evolution, for the population census of the bulge and center, and for the pulsation theory would follow from this survey.