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Max Planck Institute for Astronomy - Annual Report 2005

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Fig. III.4.6: Three-color composite of the nearby spiral galaxy<br />

M 101. The distribution of atomic hydrogen from Things is<br />

shown in green. Blue indicates emission seen by galex, a UV<br />

satellite, which traces current and recent star <strong>for</strong>mation. Red<br />

integrated HI map which reveals the presence of many<br />

holes and shells in the ISM. The middle panel shows the<br />

velocity field: red colors indicate emission receding from<br />

Earth, blue colors indicate approaching gas (the global<br />

rotation of this galaxy is evident from this plot). The velocity<br />

dispersion (right panel) seems to be higher in the<br />

regions where spiral arms and star <strong>for</strong>mation are present,<br />

which may be explained by the mechanical feedback of<br />

the stars in the spiral arms. Typical resolutions <strong>for</strong> Things<br />

observations are a spatial resolution of 7� and a velocity<br />

resolution of 2.5 – 5 km/s.<br />

Scientific Rationale of Things<br />

Interplay between the ISM and Star Formation.<br />

Things allows astronomers to study the interplay<br />

between star <strong>for</strong>mation (as traced by Hα, Far UV,<br />

IR, and X-ray emission) and the ambient ISM at<br />

100 – 300 pc resolution over a range of different<br />

hubble types. The location and energy input of regions<br />

of recent star <strong>for</strong>mation and the impact they have<br />

on the structure and dynamics of the HI can be investigated<br />

on these small scales. With Things, a census<br />

of supergiant shells as a function of hubble type will<br />

be possible (see Fig. III.4.2). Things data products<br />

permit studies of how these structures <strong>for</strong>m and how<br />

III.4 The Interstellar Medium in Nearby Galaxies 85<br />

indicates emission seen at 24 microns with the spiTzer space<br />

telescope, which is dominated by warm dust emission powered<br />

by young star<strong>for</strong>ming regions (image credits: Karl Gordon,<br />

Steward Observatory.<br />

they, in turn, might trigger secondary star <strong>for</strong>mation.<br />

In combination with the multi-wavelength data from<br />

sings, a complete energy budget of the ISM can be<br />

derived. As an example, we show a multi-wavelength<br />

comparison of the spiral galaxy M 81 in Fig. III.4.5.<br />

In this figure, the distribution of atomic hydrogen<br />

is shown in blue in all panels. The other wavebands<br />

have been observed with spiTzer and the colors are<br />

explained in each panel. The 3.6 micron emission is<br />

dominated by the contribution of old stars in the bulge;<br />

the 8 micron map contains emission from stars,<br />

hot dust and so-called PAH emission features. Such<br />

comparisons provide important clues about the processes<br />

leading to star <strong>for</strong>mation <strong>for</strong> the Things /sings<br />

galaxies. Another example is shown in Fig. III.4.6,<br />

where we show a three-color composite of the nearby<br />

spiral galaxy M 101. The distribution of atomic hydrogen<br />

from Things is shown in green. Blue indicates<br />

emission seen by galex, a UV satellite, which traces<br />

current and recent star <strong>for</strong>mation. Red indicates emission<br />

seen at 24 microns observed with the spiTzer<br />

space telescope, which is dominated by warm dust<br />

emission powered by young star-<strong>for</strong>ming regions.<br />

Global Mass Distribution. Another topical subject<br />

that can be addressed by Things is the apparent failure<br />

of cold dark matter (CDM) models to explain the dis-

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