SURVEYING THE AGENTS OF GALAXY EVOLUTION IN THE TIDALLY STRIPPED, LOW METALLICITY SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD (SAGE-SMC). I. OVERVIEW

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/142/4/102· OSTI ID:21582851

Gordon, K D; Meixner, M; Boyer, M L; Lawton, B ^[1]; Meade, M R; Whitney, B; Babler, B; Bracker, S ^[2]; Engelbracht, C; Block, M; Misselt, K ^[3]; Bot, C ^[4]; Sewilo, M ^[5]; Bernard, J -P ^[6]; Blum, R; Harris, J ^[7]; Bolatto, A ^[8]; Bonanos, A ^[9]; Hora, J L ^[10]; Indebetouw, R ^[11]

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1. Space Telescope Science Institute, MD 21218 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
3. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
4. UMR 7550, Centre de Donnees Astronomique de Strasbourg (CDS), Universite Louis Pasteur, 67000 Strasbourg (France)
5. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
6. CESR, Universite de Toulouse, UPS, F-31028 Toulouse, Cedex 4 (France)
7. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
8. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
9. Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou St., P. Penteli, 15236 Athens (Greece)
10. Harvard-Smithsonian, CfA, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
11. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) provides a unique laboratory for the study of the lifecycle of dust given its low metallicity ({approx}1/5 solar) and relative proximity ({approx}60 kpc). This motivated the SAGE-SMC (Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally Stripped, Low Metallicity Small Magellanic Cloud) Spitzer Legacy program with the specific goals of studying the amount and type of dust in the present interstellar medium, the sources of dust in the winds of evolved stars, and how much dust is consumed in star formation. This program mapped the full SMC (30 deg{sup 2}) including the body, wing, and tail in seven bands from 3.6 to 160 {mu}m using IRAC and MIPS on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The data were reduced and mosaicked, and the point sources were measured using customized routines specific for large surveys. We have made the resulting mosaics and point-source catalogs available to the community. The infrared colors of the SMC are compared to those of other nearby galaxies and the 8 {mu}m/24 {mu}m ratio is somewhat lower than the average and the 70 {mu}m/160 {mu}m ratio is somewhat higher than the average. The global infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) shows that the SMC has approximately 1/3 the aromatic emission/polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon abundance of most nearby galaxies. Infrared color-magnitude diagrams are given illustrating the distribution of different asymptotic giant branch stars and the locations of young stellar objects. Finally, the average SED of H II/star formation regions is compared to the equivalent Large Magellanic Cloud average H II/star formation region SED. These preliminary results will be expanded in detail in subsequent papers.

• OSTI ID: 21582851
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 142, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/142/4/102; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABUNDANCE
CATALOGS
COLOR
DUSTS
ENERGY SPECTRA
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
MAGELLANIC CLOUDS
POINT SOURCES
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
STARS
TELESCOPES
AROMATICS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
HYDROCARBONS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANOLEPTIC PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION SOURCES
SPECTRA