High spatial resolution Galactic 3D extinction mapping with IPHAS |
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| Authors: | Stuart E Sale J E Drew Y C Unruh MJ Irwin C Knigge S Phillipps A A Zijlstra B T Gänsicke R Greimel P J Groot A Mampaso R A H Morris R Napiwotzki D Steeghs N A Walton |
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| Institution: | Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ;Centre for Astrophysics Research, STRI, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane Campus, Hatfield AL10 9AB;Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA;School of Physics &Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ;Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics, Bristol University, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL;Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Street, Manchester M13 9PL;Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL;Institut für Physik, Karl-Franzens Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, 8010 Graz, Austria;Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, the Netherlands;Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Via Láctea s/n, E38200 La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain;Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA |
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| Abstract: | We present an algorithm (MEAD, for 'Mapping Extinction Against Distance') which will determine intrinsic ( r '? i ') colour, extinction, and distance for early-A to K4 stars extracted from the IPHAS r '/ i '/Hα photometric data base. These data can be binned up to map extinction in three dimensions across the northern Galactic plane. The large size of the IPHAS data base (～200 million unique objects), the accuracy of the digital photometry it contains and its faint limiting magnitude ( r '～ 20) allow extinction to be mapped with fine angular (～10 arcmin) and distance (～ 0.1 kpc) resolution to distances of up to 10 kpc, outside the solar circle. High reddening within the solar circle on occasion brings this range down to ～2 kpc. The resolution achieved, both in angle and depth, greatly exceeds that of previous empirical 3D extinction maps, enabling the structure of the Galactic Plane to be studied in increased detail. MEAD accounts for the effect of the survey magnitude limits, photometric errors, unresolved interstellar medium (ISM) substructure and binarity. The impact of metallicity variations, within the range typical of the Galactic disc is small. The accuracy and reliability of MEAD are tested through the use of simulated photometry created with Monte Carlo sampling techniques. The success of this algorithm is demonstrated on a selection of fields and the results are compared to the literature. |
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| Keywords: | methods: miscellaneous surveys stars: general dust extinction ISM: structure Galaxy: disc |
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