Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Our Galaxy
Journal article, 2024
As we learn more about the multi-scale interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy, we develop a greater understanding for the complex relationships between the large-scale diffuse gas and dust in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), how it moves, how it is affected by the nearby massive stars, and which portions of those GMCs eventually collapse into star forming regions. The complex interactions of those gas, dust and stellar populations form what has come to be known as the ecology of our Galaxy. Because we are deeply embedded in the plane of our Galaxy, it takes up a significant fraction of the sky, with complex dust lanes scattered throughout the optically recognizable bands of the Milky Way. These bands become bright at (sub-)millimetre wavelengths, where we can study dust thermal emission and the chemical and kinematic signatures of the gas. To properly study such large-scale environments, requires deep, large area surveys that are not possible with current facilities. Moreover, where stars form, so too do planetary systems, growing from the dust and gas in circumstellar discs, to planets and planetesimal belts. Understanding the evolution of these belts requires deep imaging capable of studying belts around young stellar objects to Kuiper belt analogues around the nearest stars. Here we present a plan for observing the Galactic Plane and circumstellar environments to quantify the physical structure, the magnetic fields, the dynamics, chemistry, star formation, and planetary system evolution of the galaxy in which we live with AtLAST; a concept for a new, 50m single-dish sub-mm telescope with a large field of view which is the only type of facility that will allow us to observe our Galaxy deeply and widely enough to make a leap forward in our understanding of our local ecology.
The Galaxy
Submillimeter Surveys
Astronomical instrumentation methods and techniques
Telescopes
Submillimeter planetary systems
solar neighborhood
Submillimeter ISM
Submillimeter Magnetic fields
Author
Pamela Klaassen
Royal Observatory
A. Traficante
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
M. T. Beltrán
Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
Kate Pattle
University College London (UCL)
M. Booth
Royal Observatory
Joshua Lovell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
J. P. Marshall
Academia Sinica
A. Hacar
Leiden University
University of Vienna
Brandt Gaches
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Caroline Bot
Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg
Nicolas Peretto
Cardiff University
T. Stanke
Max Planck Society
Doris Arzoumanian
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
A. Duarte-Cabral
Cardiff University
G. Duchene
Grenoble Alpes University
University of California
D. J. Eden
Armagh Observatory and Planetarium
Antonio Hales
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
J. K. F. Mann
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Patricia Luppe
Trinity College Dublin
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Sebastian Marino
University of Exeter
Elena Redaelli
Max Planck Society
Andrew Rigby
University of Leeds
A. Sanchez-Monge
Institut de Ciènces de l'Espai
E. Schisano
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Dmitry Semenov
Max Planck Society
S. Spezzano
Max Planck Society
Mark Thompson
University of Leeds
F. Wyrowski
Max Planck Society
C. Cicone
University of Oslo
Tony Mroczkowski
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
M. A. Cordiner
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Luca Di Mascolo
University of Trieste
IFPU - Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe
Laboratoire Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
D. Johnstone
University of Victoria
National Research Council Canada
E. van Kampen
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Minju Lee
Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN)
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Daizhong Liu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max Planck Society
T. J. Maccarone
Texas Tech University at Lubbock
Amélie Saintonge
Max Planck Society
University College London (UCL)
M. W.L. Smith
Cardiff University
Alexander Thelen
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
S. Wedemeyer
University of Oslo
Open Research Europe
27325121 (eISSN)
Vol. 4 112Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.12688/openreseurope.17450.1