SAGE: Hot Dust and Aromatic Emission Feature Distribution in the N79/N83 region of the Large Magellanic Cloud
Abstract
Surveying the agents of a galaxy's evolution (SAGE) is a Spitzer Legacy program, imaging the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using the IRAC (3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 μm) and MIPS (24, 70 and 160 μm) instruments on board Spitzer. SAGE is investigating the lifecycle of baryonic matter in the LMC as traced by emission from the agents of the galaxy's evolution, the interstellar medium (ISM), star formation and evolved stars. We will present preliminary results from our study of hot dust and aromatic feature emission from a small region near N79 and N83 in the south-west portion of the LMC. We examine the relative distributions of continuum emission from hot dust grains and the aromatic emission features (attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,PAHs) commonly observed in the MIR (mid-infrared) spectra of galaxies. Specifically, the IRAC 4.5 μm diffuse emission will trace hot dust, while the MIPS 24 μm band traces warm dust and the other IRAC bands all contain contributions from the aromatic emission features. We will show the spatial distribution of these components of the ISM within the N79/N83 region in the LMC. We will also explore how these components relate to each other and vary in sites of star formation. We will compare IRAC and MIPS colors to models and to other tracers of the ISM, like Hα, HI and CO to determine the physical components that contribute to the emission we observe.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #208
- Pub Date:
- June 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AAS...208.4911V