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The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and Milky Way Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2018

R. Michael Rich Open the ORCID record for R. Michael Rich [Opens in a new window]
R. Michael Rich*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 email: rmr@astro.ucla.edu
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Abstract

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The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) surveys have initially been optimized to omit the inner part of the Milky Way disk/bar from deep and cadence observations. However it is now clear that the LSST will be powerful for Galactic astronomy and may play a crucial role in continuing to extend the Gaia astrometric catalog until a future satellite, either optical or IR, carries on. LSST will provide metallicities and kinematics for the bulge, and will map halo structures to as distant as 450 kpc, nearly half the distance to the Andromeda galaxy. Thanks to the unprecedented calibration effort for its photometric system, and surprisingly good astrometry (transverse velocity measurements of 0.2 mas/yr at r=21; 1 mas/yr at r=24) LSST will provide photometric abundances and distance constraints for a billion or more Milky Way stars to distances of 450 kpc, and kinematics from proper motions to ~100 kpc. Single observation depths reach ~24 in the ugrizy bands, while depths at end of mission reach ~27. Although halo structures such as streams and dwarf galaxies are initially identified by the RR Lyrae and giants, their structure will be fleshed out by the 100× more abundant dwarfs that will be detected to 100 kpc (single observation) and ~300 kpc by end of mission. More complete mapping of stream structures may constrain the mass distribution of dark matter and perhaps confirm the interaction of dark matter halos and streams. I also describe the Blanco DECam Bulge Survey, a 200 deg2 LSST pathfinder survey of the bulge in ugrizy using the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4m telescope. The purpose of this article is to encourage active workers on the Milky Way and Local Volume to participate in the LSST project, in particular to urge that the Galactic Plane receive the same cadence and depth coverage as the rest of the extragalactic sky.

Keywords

telescopessurveyGalaxy: structureGalaxy: bulgeGalaxy: diskGalaxy: halo
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 13 , Symposium S334: Rediscovering our Galaxy , July 2017 , pp. 233 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2018 

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