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Title: The southern stellar stream spectroscopic survey (S5): Overview, target selection, data reduction, validation, and early science

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [9];  [10]; ORCiD logo [11];  [12];  [13];  [13]; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [14];  [7];  [15]; ORCiD logo [16]; ORCiD logo [4] more »;  [17];  [18]; ORCiD logo [19]; ORCiD logo [20]; ORCiD logo [21]; ORCiD logo [22];  [12];  [8]; ORCiD logo [21]; ORCiD logo [23];  [24];  [13] « less
  1. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
  2. McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
  3. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia, Macquarie University Research Centre for Astronomy, Astrophysics & Astrophotonics, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
  4. Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
  5. Lowell Observatory, 1400 W Mars Hill Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA, Australian Astronomical Optics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113, Australia
  6. School of Physics, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
  7. Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
  8. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
  9. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA, Pittsburgh Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
  10. Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
  11. George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
  12. Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia
  13. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
  14. Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
  15. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
  16. School of Physics, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia, Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Australia
  17. Australian Astronomical Optics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113, Australia
  18. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706, USA
  19. Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Postbus 800, NL-9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
  20. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
  21. Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), Australia
  22. School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
  23. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
  24. Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, PO Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA

Herein, we introduce the southern stellar stream spectroscopy survey (S5), an on-going program to map the kinematics and chemistry of stellar streams in the southern hemisphere. The initial focus of S5 has been spectroscopic observations of recently identified streams within the footprint of the dark energy survey (DES), with the eventual goal of surveying streams across the entire southern sky. Stellar streams are composed of material that has been tidally striped from dwarf galaxies and globular clusters and hence are excellent dynamical probes of the gravitational potential of the Milky Way, as well as providing a detailed snapshot of its accretion history. Observing with the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope’s 2-degree-Field fibre positioner and AAOmega spectrograph, and combining the precise photometry of DES DR1 with the superb proper motions from Gaia DR2, allows us to conduct an efficient spectroscopic survey to map these stellar streams. So far S5 has mapped nine DES streams and three streams outside of DES; the former are the first spectroscopic observations of these recently discovered streams. In addition to the stream survey, we use spare fibres to undertake a Milky Way halo survey and a low-redshift galaxy survey. This paper presents an overview of the S5 program, describing the scientific motivation for the survey, target selection, observation strategy, data reduction, and survey validation. Lastly, we describe early science results on stellar streams and Milky Way halo stars drawn from the survey. Updates on S5, including future public data releases, can be found at http://s5collab.github.io.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1572589
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 490; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

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