LITTLE THINGS

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/144/5/134· OSTI ID:22089822

Hunter, Deidre A.; Herrmann, Kimberly A.; Johnson, Megan; Hongxin, Zhang ^[1]; Ficut-Vicas, Dana; Brinks, Elias; Heesen, Volker ^[2]; Ashley, Trisha; Simpson, Caroline E. ^[3]; Cigan, Phil; Westpfahl, David J.; Young, Lisa M. ^[4]; Elmegreen, Bruce G. ^[5]; Oh, Se-Heon ^[6]; Rupen, Michael P. ^[7]; Schruba, Andreas; Walter, Fabian ^[8]

---

1. Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States)
2. Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB (United Kingdom)
3. Department of Physics, Florida International University, CP 204, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199 (United States)
4. Physics Department, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States)
5. IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 (United States)
6. International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009 (Australia)
7. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 1003 Lopezville Road, Socorro, NM 87801 (United States)
8. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany)

We present LITTLE THINGS (Local Irregulars That Trace Luminosity Extremes, The H I Nearby Galaxy Survey), which is aimed at determining what drives star formation in dwarf galaxies. This is a multi-wavelength survey of 37 dwarf irregular and 4 blue compact dwarf galaxies that is centered around H I-line data obtained with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Very Large Array (VLA). The H I-line data are characterized by high sensitivity ({<=}1.1 mJy beam{sup -1} per channel), high spectral resolution ({<=}2.6 km s{sup -1}), and high angular resolution ({approx}6''). The LITTLE THINGS sample contains dwarf galaxies that are relatively nearby ({<=}10.3 Mpc; 6'' is {<=}300 pc), that were known to contain atomic hydrogen, the fuel for star formation, and that cover a large range in dwarf galactic properties. We describe our VLA data acquisition, calibration, and mapping procedures, as well as H I map characteristics, and show channel maps, moment maps, velocity-flux profiles, and surface gas density profiles. In addition to the H I data we have GALEX UV and ground-based UBV and H{alpha} images for most of the galaxies, and JHK images for some. Spitzer mid-IR images are available for many of the galaxies as well. These data sets are available online.

• OSTI ID: 22089822
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online) Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 144; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
CALIBRATION
DATA ACQUISITION
DENSITY
GALAXIES
HYDROGEN
IMAGES
LUMINOSITY
MAPPING
RADIOASTRONOMY
RESOLUTION
SENSITIVITY
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
VELOCITY
WAVELENGTHS