MeerGAL: the MeerKAT galactic plane survey
Paper in proceeding, 2016

Radio surveys of the Milky Way galaxy have transformed our understanding of star formation and stellar evolution. However, due to strong dependence of “survey cost” on frequency most large area surveys have so far been carried out at low frequencies (∼ a few GHz). These surveys select against dense plasma as the free-free turnover frequency scales directly with electron density which means that there are significant biases against the detection of the youngest and densest HII regions, Young Stellar Objects, jets, winds and Planetary Nebulae. Here we describe the MeerKAT Large Project MeerGAL, which aims to address this issue by making the first sensitive high frequency, high resolution multi-epoch survey of the Galactic Plane. Together with its Northern Hemisphere sister project KuGARS (the Ku-band Galactic Reconnaissance Survey), MeerGAL will revolutionise the study of massive star formation and stellar evolution, Galactic structure, and variability.

Author

A. M. Thompson

University of Hertfordshire

S. Goedhart

Square Kilometre Array, South Africa

P. Benaglia

H. Beuther

Max Planck Society

R. Blomme

Royal Observatory of Belgium

A Chrysostomou

SKA Organisation

J.S. Clark

Open University

C. Dickinson

University of Manchester

S. Ellingsen

University of Tasmania

D. Fenech

University College London (UCL)

L. Hindson

University of Hertfordshire

H. J. van Langevelde

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

S. N. Longmore

Liverpool John Moores University

G. MacLeod

Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory

S. Molinari

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

R. Prinja

University College London (UCL)

C.R. Purcell

Macquarie University

I. Stevens

University of Birmingham

G. Umana

J. S. Urquhart

University Of Kent

Wouter Vlemmings

Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

Other publications Research

A.J. Walsh

Curtin University

J. van der Walt

North-West University

A.Y. Yang

University of Hertfordshire

A. Zijlstra

University of Manchester

Proceedings of Science

18248039 (eISSN)

2016 MeerKAT Science: On the Pathway to the SKA, MeerKAT 2016
Stellenbosch, South Africa,

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics

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6/7/2022 9

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