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Spectral Legacy Survey
The Spectral
Legacy Survey
Summary
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Stars form in the densest, coldest, most quiescent
regions of molecular clouds. Molecules provide the only probes that can
reveal the dynamics, physics, chemistry, and evolution of these
regions, but our understanding of the molecular inventory of sources
and how this is related to their physical state and evolution is
rudimentary and incomplete. The Spectral Legacy Survey (SLS) will
produce a spectral imaging survey of the content and distribution of
all the molecules detected in the 345 GHz atmospheric window (between
332 and 373 GHz) toward a sample of five sources.
Our intended targets are:
- a low-mass core (NGC 1333 IRAS 4);
- three high-mass cores spanning a range of
star-forming environments and evolutionary states (W49, AFGL 2591, and
IRAS 20126), and;
- a photodissociation region (the Orion Bar).
The SLS will use the unique spectral imaging capabilities of HARP/ACSIS
to study the molecular inventory and the physical structure of these
objects, which span different evolutionary stages and physical
environments, and to probe their evolution during the star formation
process.
A paper describing the survey has been published: Plume
et al. (2007), The
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope Spectral Legacy Survey,
PASP, 119, 10
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Survey of the 345 GHz window towards G5.89 from Thompson &
Macdonald (1999). 142 transitions were detected from 19 different
species. While this object is rich in sulphur species, it is relatively
poor in complex carbon species (unlike G34.3 and Orion).
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The 2-year
programme
In total, 187 hours have been allocated to observe the 5 objects
mentioned above.
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