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Journal ArticleDOI

Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software for Herschel and Similar Scanning Bolometer Arrays

01 Sep 2013-Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (IOP Publishing)-Vol. 125, Iss: 931, pp 1126-1163
TL;DR: The principles and algorithm of Scanamorphos are described and several examples of application are presented; it was successfully applied to P-Artemis, an instrument operating on the APEX telescope.
Abstract: Scanamorphos is public software available to postprocess scan observations performed with the Herschel photometer arrays. This postprocessing mainly consists in subtracting the total low-frequency noise (both its thermal and nonthermal components), masking high-frequency artefacts such as cosmic ray hits, and projecting the data onto a map. Although it was developed for Herschel, it is also applicable with minimal adjustment to scan observations made with some other imaging arrays subjected to low-frequency noise, provided they entail sufficient redundancy; it was successfully applied to P-Artemis, an instrument operating on the APEX telescope. Contrary to matrix-inversion softwares and high-pass filters, Scanamorphos does not assume any particular noise model, and does not apply any Fourier-space filtering to the data, but is an empirical tool using purely the redundancy built in the observations—taking advantage of the fact that each portion of the sky is sampled at multiple times by multiple bolometers. It is an interactive software in the sense that the user is allowed to optionally visualize and control results at each intermediate step, but the processing is fully automated. This paper describes the principles and algorithm of Scanamorphos and presents several examples of application.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the results from the Herschel Gould Belt survey for the B211/L1495 region in the Taurus molecular cloud were presented, which revealed the structure of the dense, star-forming filament B211 with unprecedented detail, along with the presence of striations perpendicular to the filament.
Abstract: We present first results from the Herschel Gould Belt survey for the B211/L1495 region in the Taurus molecular cloud. Thanks to their high sensitivity and dynamic range, the Herschel images reveal the structure of the dense, star-forming filament B211 with unprecedented detail, along with the presence of striations perpendicular to the filament and generally oriented along the magnetic field direction as traced by optical polarization vectors. Based on the column density and dust temperature maps derived from the Herschel data, we find that the radial density profile of the B211 filament approaches power-law behavior, ρ ∝ r−2.0± 0.4, at large radii and that the temperature profile exhibits a marked drop at small radii. The observed density and temperature profiles of the B211 filament are in good agreement with a theoretical model of a cylindrical filament undergoing gravitational contraction with a polytropic equation of state: P ∝ ργ and T ∝ ργ−1, with γ = 0.97 ± 0.01 < 1 (i.e., not strictly isothermal). The morphology of the column density map, where some of the perpendicular striations are apparently connected to the B211 filament, further suggests that the material may be accreting along the striations onto the main filament. The typical velocities expected for the infalling material in this picture are ~0.5–1 km s-1, which are consistent with the existing kinematical constraints from previous CO observations.

565 citations


Cites methods from "Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software..."

  • ...These level-1 data were then post-processed with Scanamorphos version 16 (Roussel 2012), to remove glitches, thermal drifts, uncorrelated 1/ f noise, and produce the final maps....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the results of the Herschel Gould Belt survey (HGBS) observations in an ~11 deg2 area of the Aquila molecular cloud complex at d ~ 260 pc, imaged with the SPIRE and PACS photometric cameras in parallel mode from 70 μm to 500 μm.
Abstract: We present and discuss the results of the Herschel Gould Belt survey (HGBS) observations in an ~11 deg2 area of the Aquila molecular cloud complex at d ~ 260 pc, imaged with the SPIRE and PACS photometric cameras in parallel mode from 70 μm to 500 μm. Using the multi-scale, multi-wavelength source extraction algorithm getsources, we identify a complete sample of starless dense cores and embedded (Class 0-I) protostars in this region, and analyze their global properties and spatial distributions. We find a total of 651 starless cores, ~60% ± 10% of which are gravitationally bound prestellar cores, and they will likely form stars inthe future. We also detect 58 protostellar cores. The core mass function (CMF) derived for the large population of prestellar cores is very similar in shape to the stellar initial mass function (IMF), confirming earlier findings on a much stronger statistical basis and supporting the view that there is a close physical link between the stellar IMF and the prestellar CMF. The global shift in mass scale observed between the CMF and the IMF is consistent with a typical star formation efficiency of ~40% at the level of an individual core. By comparing the numbers of starless cores in various density bins to the number of young stellar objects (YSOs), we estimate that the lifetime of prestellar cores is ~1 Myr, which is typically ~4 times longer than the core free-fall time, and that it decreases with average core density. We find a strong correlation between the spatial distribution of prestellar cores and the densest filaments observed in the Aquila complex. About 90% of the Herschel-identified prestellar cores are located above a background column density corresponding to AV ~ 7, and ~75% of them lie within filamentary structures with supercritical masses per unit length ≳16 M⊙/pc. These findings support a picture wherein the cores making up the peak of the CMF (and probably responsible for the base of the IMF) result primarily from the gravitational fragmentation of marginally supercritical filaments. Given that filaments appear to dominate the mass budget of dense gas at AV> 7, our findings also suggest that the physics of prestellar core formation within filaments is responsible for a characteristic “efficiency” for the star formation process in dense gas.

415 citations


Cites methods from "Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software..."

  • ...3.7 of Roussel 2013, for details)....

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  • ...Further treatment of the flux- and pointing-calibrated level1 time series and the projection of the combined scans were performed with an IDL-based map-maker, Scanamorphos, version 20 (Roussel 2013)3....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory imaging of M31 to construct maps of dust surface density, dust-to-gas ratio, starlight heating intensity, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) abundance, out to R ≈ 25 kpc.
Abstract: Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory imaging of M31 is used, with a physical dust model, to construct maps of dust surface density, dust-to-gas ratio, starlight heating intensity, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) abundance, out to R ≈ 25 kpc. The global dust mass is M {sub d} = 5.4 × 10{sup 7} M {sub ☉}, the global dust/H mass ratio is M {sub d}/M {sub H} = 0.0081, and the global PAH abundance is (q {sub PAH}) = 0.039. The dust surface density has an inner ring at R = 5.6 kpc, a maximum at R = 11.2 kpc, and an outer ring at R ≈ 15.1 kpc. The dust/gas ratio varies from M {sub d}/M {sub H} ≈ 0.026 at the center to ∼0.0027 at R ≈ 25 kpc. From the dust/gas ratio, we estimate the interstellar medium metallicity to vary by a factor ∼10, from Z/Z {sub ☉} ≈ 3 at R = 0 to ∼0.3 at R = 25 kpc. The dust heating rate parameter (U) peaks at the center, with (U) ≈ 35, declining to (U) ≈ 0.25 at R = 20 kpc. Within the central kiloparsec, the starlight heating intensity inferred from themore » dust modeling is close to what is estimated from the stars in the bulge. The PAH abundance reaches a peak q {sub PAH} ≈ 0.045 at R ≈ 11.2 kpc. When allowance is made for the different spectrum of the bulge stars, q {sub PAH} for the dust in the central kiloparsec is similar to the overall value of q {sub PAH} in the disk. The silicate-graphite-PAH dust model used here is generally able to reproduce the observed dust spectral energy distribution across M31, but overpredicts 500 μm emission at R ≈ 2-6 kpc, suggesting that at R = 2-6 kpc, the dust opacity varies more steeply with frequency (with β ≈ 2.3 between 200 and 600 μm) than in the model.« less

252 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...0 (Roussel 2013)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, Herschel observations of the DR21 environment were used to characterise the cloud structures responsible for the formation of high-mass stars, showing substructured column density profiles and branching into two major filaments in the north.
Abstract: In order to characterise the cloud structures responsible for the formation of high-mass stars, we present Herschel observations of the DR21 environment. Maps of the column density and dust temperature unveil the structure of the DR21 ridge and several connected filaments. The ridge has column densities larger than 1e23/cm^2 over a region of 2.3 pc^2. It shows substructured column density profiles and branching into two major filaments in the north. The masses in the studied filaments range between 130 and 1400 Msun whereas the mass in the ridge is 15000 Msun. The accretion of these filaments onto the DR21 ridge, suggested by a previous molecular line study, could provide a continuous mass inflow to the ridge. In contrast to the striations seen in e.g., the Taurus region, these filaments are gravitationally unstable and form cores and protostars. These cores formed in the filaments potentially fall into the ridge. Both inflow and collisions of cores could be important to drive the observed high-mass star formation. The evolutionary gradient of star formation running from DR21 in the south to the northern branching is traced by decreasing dust temperature. This evolution and the ridge structure can be explained by two main filamentary components of the ridge that merged first in the south.

234 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Dwarf Galaxy Survey (DGS) as discussed by the authors was designed to get a handle on the physics of the interstellar medium (ISM) of low metallicity dwarf galaxies, especially their dust and gas properties and the ISM heating and cooling processes.
Abstract: The Dwarf Galaxy Survey (DGS) program is studying low-metallicity galaxies using 230 hr of farinfrared (FIR) and submillimetre (submm) photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Herschel Space Observatory and draws from this a rich database of a wide range of wavelengths tracing the dust, gas and stars. This sample of 50 galaxies includes the largest metallicity range achievable in the local Universe including the lowest metallicity (Z) galaxies, 1/50 Z., and spans four orders of magnitude in star formation rates. The survey is designed to get a handle on the physics of the interstellar medium (ISM) of low metallicity dwarf galaxies, especially their dust and gas properties and the ISM heating and cooling processes. The DGS produces PACS and SPIRE maps of low-metallicity galaxies observed at 70, 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 mu m with the highest sensitivity achievable to date in the FIR and submm. The FIR fine-structure lines, [CII] 158 mu m, [OI] 63 mu m, [OI] 145 mu m, [OIII] 88 mu m, [NIII] 57 mu m, and [NII] 122 and 205 mu m have also been observed with the aim of studying the gas cooling in the neutral and ionized phases. The SPIRE FTS observations include many CO lines (J = 4-3 to J = 13-12), [NII] 205 mu m, and [CI] lines at 370 and 609 mu m. This paper describes the sample selection and global properties of the galaxies and the observing strategy as well as the vast ancillary database available to complement the Herschel observations. The scientific potential of the full DGS survey is described with some example results included.

227 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009, and is now an operational ESA space observatory o ering unprecedented observational capabilities in the far-infrared and sub-millimetre spectral range 55 671 m.
Abstract: Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009, and is now an operational ESA space observatory o ering unprecedented observational capabilities in the far-infrared and submillimetre spectral range 55 671 m. Herschel carries a 3.5 metre diameter passively cooled Cassegrain telescope, which is the largest of its kind and utilises a novel silicon carbide technology. The science payload comprises three instruments: two direct detection cameras/medium resolution spectrometers, PACS and SPIRE, and a very high-resolution heterodyne spectrometer, HIFI, whose focal plane units are housed inside a superfluid helium cryostat. Herschel is an observatory facility operated in partnership among ESA, the instrument consortia, and NASA. The mission lifetime is determined by the cryostat hold time. Nominally approximately 20,000 hours will be available for astronomy, 32% is guaranteed time and the remainder is open to the worldwide general astronomical community through a standard competitive proposal procedure.

3,359 citations


"Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...The software described here was developed with the aim to process scan observations made with the photometers of the Herschel space telescope (Pilbratt et al. 2010), subunits of the PACS (Poglitsch et al. 2010) and SPIRE instruments (Griffin et al. 2010; Swinyard et al. 2010), but has broader…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) as discussed by the authors is one of the three science instruments on ESA's far infrared and sub-mil- limetre observatory.
Abstract: The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments on ESA's far infrared and submil- limetre observatory. It employs two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays (stressed and unstressed) with 16 × 25 pixels, each, and two filled silicon bolometer arrays with 16 × 32 and 32 × 64 pixels, respectively, to perform integral-field spectroscopy and imaging photom- etry in the 60−210 μm wavelength regime. In photometry mode, it simultaneously images two bands, 60−85 μ mo r 85−125 μ ma nd 125−210 μm, over a field of view of ∼1.75 � × 3.5 � , with close to Nyquist beam sampling in each band. In spectroscopy mode, it images afi eld of 47 �� × 47 �� , resolved into 5 × 5 pixels, with an instantaneous spectral coverage of ∼ 1500 km s −1 and a spectral resolution of ∼175 km s −1 . We summarise the design of the instrument, describe observing modes, calibration, and data analysis methods, and present our current assessment of the in-orbit performance of the instrument based on the performance verification tests. PACS is fully operational, and the achieved performance is close to or better than the pre-launch predictions.

2,645 citations


"Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...…described here was developed with the aim to process scan observations made with the photometers of the Herschel space telescope (Pilbratt et al. 2010), subunits of the PACS (Poglitsch et al. 2010) and SPIRE instruments (Griffin et al. 2010; Swinyard et al. 2010), but has broader applicability....

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  • ...In laboratory tests and flight operations, it has been measured to be less than 0.1 Hz for SPIRE (Griffin et al. 2010), but more than 1 Hz for PACS (Poglitsch et al. 2010)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
Matthew Joseph Griffin, Alain Abergel1, A. Abreu, Peter A. R. Ade2  +186 moreInstitutions (27)
TL;DR: The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE) is the Herschel Space Observatory's sub-millimetre camera and spectrometer as discussed by the authors, which is used for image and spectroscopic data acquisition.
Abstract: The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE), is the Herschel Space Observatory`s submillimetre camera and spectrometer It contains a three-band imaging photometer operating at 250, 350 and 500 mu m, and an imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS) which covers simultaneously its whole operating range of 194-671 mu m (447-1550 GHz) The SPIRE detectors are arrays of feedhorn-coupled bolometers cooled to 03 K The photometer has a field of view of 4' x 8', observed simultaneously in the three spectral bands Its main operating mode is scan-mapping, whereby the field of view is scanned across the sky to achieve full spatial sampling and to cover large areas if desired The spectrometer has an approximately circular field of view with a diameter of 26' The spectral resolution can be adjusted between 12 and 25 GHz by changing the stroke length of the FTS scan mirror Its main operating mode involves a fixed telescope pointing with multiple scans of the FTS mirror to acquire spectral data For extended source measurements, multiple position offsets are implemented by means of an internal beam steering mirror to achieve the desired spatial sampling and by rastering of the telescope pointing to map areas larger than the field of view The SPIRE instrument consists of a cold focal plane unit located inside the Herschel cryostat and warm electronics units, located on the spacecraft Service Module, for instrument control and data handling Science data are transmitted to Earth with no on-board data compression, and processed by automatic pipelines to produce calibrated science products The in-flight performance of the instrument matches or exceeds predictions based on pre-launch testing and modelling: the photometer sensitivity is comparable to or slightly better than estimated pre-launch, and the spectrometer sensitivity is also better by a factor of 15-2

2,425 citations


"Scanamorphos: A Map-making Software..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...…described here was developed with the aim to process scan observations made with the photometers of the Herschel space telescope (Pilbratt et al. 2010), subunits of the PACS (Poglitsch et al. 2010) and SPIRE instruments (Griffin et al. 2010; Swinyard et al. 2010), but has broader applicability....

    [...]

  • ...In laboratory tests and flight operations, it has been measured to be less than 0.1 Hz for SPIRE (Griffin et al. 2010), but more than 1 Hz for PACS (Poglitsch et al. 2010)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) as discussed by the authors is the Herschel Space Observatory's submillimetre camera and spectrometer, which is used for scan-mapping, whereby the field of view is scanned across the sky to achieve full spatial sampling and to cover large areas.
Abstract: The Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE), is the Herschel Space Observatory`s submillimetre camera and spectrometer. It contains a three-band imaging photometer operating at 250, 350 and 500 microns, and an imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) which covers simultaneously its whole operating range of 194-671 microns (447-1550 GHz). The SPIRE detectors are arrays of feedhorn-coupled bolometers cooled to 0.3 K. The photometer has a field of view of 4' x 8', observed simultaneously in the three spectral bands. Its main operating mode is scan-mapping, whereby the field of view is scanned across the sky to achieve full spatial sampling and to cover large areas if desired. The spectrometer has an approximately circular field of view with a diameter of 2.6'. The spectral resolution can be adjusted between 1.2 and 25 GHz by changing the stroke length of the FTS scan mirror. Its main operating mode involves a fixed telescope pointing with multiple scans of the FTS mirror to acquire spectral data. For extended source measurements, multiple position offsets are implemented by means of an internal beam steering mirror to achieve the desired spatial sampling and by rastering of the telescope pointing to map areas larger than the field of view. The SPIRE instrument consists of a cold focal plane unit located inside the Herschel cryostat and warm electronics units, located on the spacecraft Service Module, for instrument control and data handling. Science data are transmitted to Earth with no on-board data compression, and processed by automatic pipelines to produce calibrated science products. The in-flight performance of the instrument matches or exceeds predictions based on pre-launch testing and modelling: the photometer sensitivity is comparable to or slightly better than estimated pre-launch, and the spectrometer sensitivity is also better by a factor of 1.5-2.

2,171 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The SIRTF Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS) as mentioned in this paper is a comprehensive infrared imaging and spectroscopic survey of 75 nearby galaxies and its primary goal is to characterize the infrared emission of galaxies and their principal infrared-emitting components across a broad range of galaxy properties and star formation environments.
Abstract: The SIRTF Nearby Galaxy Survey is a comprehensive infrared imaging and spectroscopic survey of 75 nearby galaxies. Its primary goal is to characterize the infrared emission of galaxies and their principal infrared-emitting components, across a broad range of galaxy properties and star formation environments. SINGS will provide new insights into the physical processes connecting star formation to the interstellar medium properties of galaxies and provide a vital foundation for understanding infrared observations of the distant universe and ultraluminous and active galaxies. The galaxy sample and observing strategy have been designed to maximize the scientific and archival value of the data set for the SIRTF user community at large. The SIRTF images and spectra will be supplemented by a comprehensive multiwavelength library of ancillary and complementary observations, including radio continuum, H i, CO, submillimeter, BVRIJHK ,H a ,P aa, ultraviolet, and X-ray data. This paper describes the main astrophysical issues to be addressed by SINGS, the galaxy sample and the observing strategy, and the SIRTF and other ancillary data products.

1,284 citations

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