On the origin of M81 group extended dust emission
Abstract
Galactic cirrus emission at far-infrared wavelengths affects many extragalactic observations. Separating this emission from that associated with extragalactic objects is both important and difficult. In this paper we discuss a particular case, the M81 group, and the identification of diffuse structures prominent in the infrared, but also detected at optical wavelengths. The origin of these structures has previously been controversial, ranging from them being the result of a past interaction between M81 and M82 or due to more local Galactic emission. We show that over an order of a few arcmin scales, the far-infrared (Herschel 250 μm) emission correlates spatially very well with a particular narrow-velocity (2–3 km s^(−1)) component of the Galactic H i. We find no evidence that any of the far-infrared emission associated with these features actually originates in the M81 group. Thus we infer that the associated diffuse optical emission must be due to galactic light-back scattered off dust in our galaxy. Ultraviolet observations pick out young stellar associations around M81, but no detectable far-infrared emission. We consider in detail one of the Galactic cirrus features, finding that the far-infrared H i relation breaks down below arcmin scales and that at smaller scales there can be quite large dust-temperature variations.
Additional Information
© 2010 The Authors. © 2010 RAS. Accepted 2010 September 27. Received 2010 September 25; in original form 2010 August 16. Article first published online: 4 Nov. 2010. PACS has been developed by a consortium of institutes led by MPE (Germany) and including UVIE (Austria); KU Leuven, CSL, IMEC (Belgium); CEA, LAM (France); MPIA (Germany); INAF-IFSI/OAA/OAP/OAT, LENS, SISSA (Italy); IAC (Spain). This development has been supported by the funding agencies BMVIT (Austria), ESA-PRODEX (Belgium), CEA/CNES (France), DLR (Germany), ASI/INAF (Italy) and CICYT/MCYT (Spain). SPIRE has been developed by a consortium of institutes led by Cardiff University (UK) and including University of Lethbridge (Canada); NAOC (China); CEA, LAM (France); IFSI, Univeristy of Padua (Italy); IAC (Spain); Stockholm Observatory (Sweden); Imperial College London, RAL, UCL-MSSL, UKATC, University of Sussex (UK) and Caltech, JPL, NHSC, University of Colorado (USA). This development has been supported by national funding agencies: CSA (Canada); NAOC (China); CEA, CNES, CNRS (France); ASI (Italy); MCINN (Spain); Stockholm Observatory (Sweden); STFC (UK) and NASA (USA). GALEX is a NASA Small Explorer, launched in 2003 April. We gratefully acknowledge NASA's support for construction, operation and science analysis for the GALEX mission. We thank Katie Chynoweth for reprocessing her M81 HI data for us and the THINGS team for providing us with their HI data cube.Attached Files
Published - Davies2010p12117Mon_Not_R_Astron_Soc.pdf
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- CaltechAUTHORS:20101220-114124533
- Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie (BMVIT)
- European Space Agency (ESA) PROgramme for the Development of scientific Experiments (PRODEX) (Belgium)
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR)
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
- Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT)
- Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Stockholm Observatory
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- NASA
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)
- Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia (MCYT)
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2010-12-21Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
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- Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)