Cormac Purcell (Jodrell Bank)

CORNISH: A 5 GHz VLA survey of the Northern Galactic Plane. - Cormac Purcell Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

The CORNISH (Co-Ordinated Radio `N' Infrared Survey for High-mass star formation) project is the radio continuum part of a series of multi-wavelength surveys of the Galactic Plane that focus on the northern GLIMPSE-I region (10< l < 65 degrees, |b| < 1degree), observed by the SPITZER satellite in the mid-infrared. CORNISH has delivered a complementary 5 GHz radio-continuum survey to address key questions in high-mass star formation as well as many other areas of astrophysics.

Observations were conducted in 2006, 2007 and 2008 on the Very Large Array in B and BnA configurations, yielding a uniform (< 10 percent variation), high-resolution (~1.5'') map of the 110 square degree target area. With a root-mean-squared noise level of 0.4 Jy/beam the survey is sufficiently sensitive to detect Ultra-Compact HII regions produced by B0 stars or earlier right across the Galaxy. In addition, the survey has furnished samples of a wide range of radio sources, including planetary nebulae, ionised winds from evolved massive stars, non-thermal emission from active stars, high energy sources, active galactic nuclei and radio galaxies.

Pipeline reduced image data is now available to the community via the project website. A catalogue of detected sources, classified by object type will be available in the very near future. Here I will describe the properties of the CORNISH survey, including semi-automated data reduction pipeline, general properties of the CORNISH detections and the ongoing effort to classify detections via comparisons with complementary surveys.