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arXiv:2201.10541astro-ph.GA

The 1.28 GHz MeerKAT Galactic Center Mosaic

I. Heywood, I. Rammala, F. Camilo, W. D. Cotton, F. Yusef-Zadeh, T. D. Abbott, R. M. Adam, G. Adams, M. A. Aldera, K. M. B. Asad, E. F. Bauermeister, T. G. H. Bennett, H. L. Bester, W. A. Bode, D. H. Botha, A. G. Botha, L. R. S. Brederode, S. Buchner, J. P. Burger, T. Cheetham, D. I. L. de Villiers, M. A. Dikgale-Mahlakoana, L. J. du Toit, S. W. P. Esterhuyse, B. L. Fanaroff, S. February, D. J. Fourie, B. S. Frank, R. R. G. Gamatham, M. Geyer, S. Goedhart, M. Gouws, S. C. Gumede, M. J. Hlakola, A. Hokwana, S. W. Hoosen, J. M. G. Horrell, B. Hugo, A. I. Isaacson, G. I. G. Józsa, J. L. Jonas, A. F. Joubert, R. P. M. Julie, F. B. Kapp, J. S. Kenyon, P. P. A. Kotzé, N. Kriek, H. Kriel, V. K. Krishnan, R. Lehmensiek, D. Liebenberg, R. T. Lord, B. M. Lunsky, K. Madisa, L. G. Magnus, O. Mahgoub, A. Makhaba, S. Makhathini, J. A. Malan, J. R. Manley, S. J. Marais, A. Martens, T. Mauch, B. C. Merry, R. P. Millenaar, N. Mnyandu, O. J. Mokone, T. E. Monama, M. C. Mphego, W. S. New, B. Ngcebetsha, K. J. Ngoasheng, M. T. Ockards, N. Oozeer, A. J. Otto, S. S. Passmoor, A. A. Patel, A. Peens-Hough, S. J. Perkins, A. J. T. Ramaila, N. M. R. Ramanujam, Z. R. Ramudzuli, S. M. Ratcliffe, A. Robyntjies, S. Salie, N. Sambu, C. T. G. Schollar, L. C. Schwardt, R. L. Schwartz, M. Serylak, R. Siebrits, S. K. Sirothia, M. Slabber, O. M. Smirnov, L. Sofeya, B. Taljaard, C. Tasse, A. J. Tiplady, O. Toruvanda, S. N. Twum, T. J. van Balla, A. van der Byl, C. van der Merwe, V. Van Tonder, R. Van Wyk, A. J. Venter, M. Venter, B. H. Wallace, M. G. Welz, L. P. Williams, B. Xaia

Abstract

The inner $\sim$200 pc region of the Galaxy contains a 4 million M$_{\odot}$ supermassive black hole (SMBH), significant quantities of molecular gas, and star formation and cosmic ray energy densities that are roughly two orders of magnitude higher than the corresponding levels in the Galactic disk. At a distance of only 8.2 kpc, the region presents astronomers with a unique opportunity to study a diverse range of energetic astrophysical phenomena, from stellar objects in extreme environments, to the SMBH and star-formation driven feedback processes that are known to influence the evolution of galaxies as a whole. We present a new survey of the Galactic center conducted with the South African MeerKAT radio telescope. Radio imaging offers a view that is unaffected by the large quantities of dust that obscure the region at other wavelengths, and a scene of striking complexity is revealed. We produce total intensity and spectral index mosaics of the region from 20 pointings (144 hours on-target in total), covering 6.5 square degrees with an angular resolution of 4$"$,at a central frequency of 1.28 GHz. Many new features are revealed for the first time due to a combination of MeerKAT's high sensitivity, exceptional $u,v$-plane coverage, and geographical vantage point. We highlight some initial survey results, including new supernova remnant candidates, many new non-thermal filament complexes, and enhanced views of the Radio Arc Bubble, Sgr A and Sgr B regions. This project is a SARAO public legacy survey, and the image products are made available with this article.

arXiv comments
29 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in the The Astrophysical Journal. Replacement arXiv version with higher quality figures
Journal reference
DOI
doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac449a
Subjects
astro-ph.GAAstrophysics of Galaxies

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  1. Thirty Years of the Square Kilometre Array 1 comment

    • If you drive from Cambridge (UK) to Wimpole, you'll see some impressively large radio telescopes that belong to the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO). However, there's much more that's not visible from the road. Hidden behind the trees, MRAO has a prototype SKA-Low…

      marbsView on HNParent context

  2. Nearly 1k mysterious strands revealed in Milky Way’s center 3 comments

    • (not an expert in this, just a fan) Always a possibility and RF is generally more prone than visible light to artifacts, in part because its much harder to eliminate from the environment. However, in this case the brighter filaments have been observed for decades, the wide angle…

      jcimsView on HNParent context

    • I think they messed up. I quickly scanned and couldn't find any reference to what they are talking about in the paper, but if you look at the resolutions involved it's much more likely they are talking about parsecs, which is defined as 'the distance from the sun at which 1 AU…

      jcimsView on HNParent context

    • The reported angular resolution (in the main paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.10541) is 4 arcseconds. This is radio interferometry, which makes for better resolution, but it’s at a very low frequency (centered around 1.28 GHz = about 23 cm), which makes for worse resolution.

      KeyshView on HNParent context

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