A new population of radio filaments in the Galactic Plane
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
One of the most striking features in the night sky is a bright band of light stretching across the sky. We call this the Milky Way and this band shows the distribution of stars throughout the disc of our Galaxy. The Milky Way is home to a surprisingly complex "ecology" of dusty clouds of gas, stars and planets. Over millions or billions of years matter within these clouds is constantly cycling backwards and forwards from gas to stars and back again. One of the surprising things about this cycle is that stars form very slowly and inefficiently from gas clouds, much more inefficiently than expected. This suggests that there is a feedback process slowing down star formation. One of the culprits are particles travelling through space at relativistic speeds called cosmic rays, which heat up the gas clouds. Cosmic rays also affect things on Earth - from lightning to satellites and electronics. Cosmic rays are spread throughout our Galaxy and others but because they diffuse throughout the Milky Way we cannot trace the individual sources of cosmic rays. With a recently built radio telescope (MeerKAT) we have found a new population of filaments in the Milky Way that are glowing at radio wavelengths. This glow is called synchrotron radiation and allows us to infer the presence of relativistic (i.e. cosmic ray) electrons. Tracing the location of these filaments and understanding their nature will allow us to determine the origin of cosmic rays in the Milky Way for the first time.
People |
ORCID iD |
Mark Thompson (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Yang A
(2021)
A population of hypercompact H II regions identified from young H II regions
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Urquhart J
(2022)
ATLASGAL - evolutionary trends in high-mass star formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Umana G
(2021)
A first glimpse at the Galactic plane with the ASKAP: the SCORPIO field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tatematsu K
(2021)
Molecular Cloud Cores with High Deuterium Fractions: Nobeyama Mapping Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Rigby A
(2024)
The dynamic centres of infrared-dark clouds and the formation of cores
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Patel A
(2023)
SCOTCH - search for clandestine optically thick compact H ii s
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mazumdar P
(2021)
High resolution LAsMA 12 CO and 13 CO observation of the G305 giant molecular cloud complex II. Effect of feedback on clump properties
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Mazumdar P
(2021)
High-resolution LAsMA 12 CO and 13 CO observation of the G305 giant molecular cloud complex I. Feedback on the molecular gas
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Irabor T
(2023)
The coordinated radio and infrared survey for high-mass star formation - V. The CORNISH-South survey and catalogue
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cotton W
(2022)
The Curious Case of the "Heartworm" Nebula
in The Astrophysical Journal
Description | MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey |
Organisation | National Institute for Astrophysics |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific leadership and management of the project, support for data reduction and analysis, development of publications. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of over 1000 hours of observing time on the MeerKAT telescope, data processing facilities, scientific contributions, scientific leadership |
Impact | The main outputs of this collaboration are still pending with initial publications expected in 2022 |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey |
Organisation | South African Radio Astronomy Observatory |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Scientific leadership and management of the project, support for data reduction and analysis, development of publications. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of over 1000 hours of observing time on the MeerKAT telescope, data processing facilities, scientific contributions, scientific leadership |
Impact | The main outputs of this collaboration are still pending with initial publications expected in 2022 |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey |
Organisation | University of Cape Town |
Country | South Africa |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Scientific leadership and management of the project, support for data reduction and analysis, development of publications. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provision of over 1000 hours of observing time on the MeerKAT telescope, data processing facilities, scientific contributions, scientific leadership |
Impact | The main outputs of this collaboration are still pending with initial publications expected in 2022 |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Talk at ESO-SKA Coordinated Surveys of the Southern Sky meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk on the MeerKAT Galactic Plane survey was given to an audience of ~120 people at the ESO-SKA Coordinated surveys of the Southern Sky. In addition the meeting contained a workshop on planning coordinated surveys with ESO and SKA facilities where ~10 Galactic astronomers discussed future plans for large observational projects. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |