Support for the Radial Velocity Experiment
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
Since April 2003 an ambitious survey of the Milky Way has been gathering pace at Siding Spring. Initially the survey used only bright time on the UK Schmidt, but now it has exclusive use of the Schmidt and the 6dF instrument, so its rate of taking spectra has increased to ~140,000 per year. The plan is to obtain spectra for ~million stars, including nearly all accessible stars the ACT-reference catalogue, which has accurate proper motions and space-based photometry for about a million stars. The spectra yield radial velocities accurate to better than 2km/s, estimates of [Fe/H] and [alpha/H], and also good photometric distances. Hence programme stars can be assigned to populations and given all six phase-space coordinates. These data will enable us to carry out a large part of the core science programme of the GAIA mission up to a decade before the GAIA catalogue comes out. Although several UK astronomers are founder members of this survey, PPARC has yet to contribute to its cost. This proposal is for a contribution of order 20% to the costs over 2006 - 2008.
Publications
Binney J
(2020)
Modelling our galaxy
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Eyre A
(2009)
Locating the orbits delineated by tidal streams
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sharma S
(2014)
KINEMATIC MODELING OF THE MILKY WAY USING THE RAVE AND GCS STELLAR SURVEYS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Kos J
(2014)
Interstellar medium. Pseudo-three-dimensional maps of the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Anguiano B
(2015)
Identification of globular cluster stars in RAVE data - I. Application to stellar parameter calibration
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Featherstone K
(2015)
Greece: Greek politics stall research reforms.
in Nature
Binney J
(2014)
Galactic kinematics and dynamics from Radial Velocity Experiment stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Eyre A
(2009)
Fitting orbits to tidal streams with proper motions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Binney J
(2014)
Dynamical models and Galaxy surveys
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Monari G
(2018)
Distribution functions for resonantly trapped orbits in our Galaxy
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Description | Galactic fountains and gas accretion |
Organisation | University of Bologna |
Department | Department of Physics and Astronomy |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise in dynamical modelling and in the theory of the intergalactic medium |
Collaborator Contribution | Fellowships to suport work in Oxford by colleagues from Bologna and through this participation in several publications (only 1 of these appeared after the grant start date and a further one has been submitted & is under review) |
Impact | Several well-cited papers |
Description | The RAVE consortium |
Organisation | The RAVE consortium |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Expertise in modelling the Galaxy |
Collaborator Contribution | The consortium is an international collaboration involving ~40 institutes worldwide. As a result of this grant several consortium members from outside the UK have spent time in Oxford |
Impact | Many research papers |
Start Year | 2006 |