The Magellan Evolution of Galaxies Spectroscopic and Ultraviolet Reference Atlas (MegaSaura). I. The Sample and the Spectra

Journal Article · Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018 · The Astronomical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/AAA2FF· OSTI ID:22897416

Rigby, J. R. ^[1]; Bayliss, M. B. ^[2]; Sharon, K.; Johnson, T.; Paterno-Mahler, R. ^[3]; Gladders, M. D. ^[4]; Chisholm, J. ^[5]; Dahle, H. ^[6]; Wuyts, E. ^[7]

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1. Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
2. MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
3. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
4. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
5. Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Geneva (Switzerland)
6. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo (Norway)
7. ArmenTeKort, Antwerp (Belgium)

We introduce Project MegaSaura: the Magellan Evolution of Galaxies Spectroscopic and Ultraviolet Reference Atlas. MegaSaura comprises medium-resolution, rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy of N = 15 bright gravitationally lensed galaxies at redshifts of 1.68 < z < 3.6, obtained with the MagE spectrograph on the Magellan telescopes. The spectra cover the observed-frame wavelength range 3200 < λ {sub o} < 8280 Å; the average spectral resolving power is R = 3300. The median spectrum has a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) = 21 per resolution element at 5000 Å. As such, the MegaSaura spectra have superior S/N and wavelength coverage compared to what COS/HST provides for starburst galaxies in the local universe. This paper describes the sample, the observations, and the data reduction. We compare the measured redshifts for the stars, the ionized gas as traced by nebular lines, and the neutral gas as traced by absorption lines; we find the expected bulk outflow of the neutral gas, and no systemic offset between the redshifts measured from nebular lines and the redshifts measured from the stellar continuum. We provide the MegaSaura spectra to the astronomical community through a data release.

• OSTI ID: 22897416
• Journal Information: The Astronomical Journal (Online), Vol. 155, Issue 3; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABSORPTION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
RED SHIFT
REDUCTION
RESOLUTION
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
SPECTRA
SPECTROSCOPY
STARS
TELESCOPES
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
UNIVERSE