A3021 - Arecibo Observatory

Proposal Identification No.:
A3021
Date Received: 2015-Aug-21 16:15:21
Arecibo Observatory
William E. Gordon Telescope
Observing Time Request
COVER SHEET
Section I - General Information
Submitted for Sep 1 2015.
This proposal has not been submitted before.
Proposal Type:
General Category:
Sub-Category:
Observation Category:
Time Requested this semester:
Hours Next Semester:
Hours already used for this project:
Additional Hours required to complete project:
Minimum Useful Time:
Expected Data Storage:
Proposal Title:
ABSTRACT:
Regular
Astronomy
Spectroscopy
Galactic
75
0
0
1:00 hour
less than 100 GB
Searching for Dark Molecular Gas in the Pegasus-Pisces Region
In the last decade, the importance of a largely ignored component of molecular clouds (dubbed somewhat
misleadingly as dark molecular gas) has become a source of study and debate over its abundance and role
in the structure of interstellar clouds. Evidence from both observational and theoretical sources indicates
that while this gas may not be detectable via traditional CO(1-0) observations, it may be possible to
detect its presence via studies of the OH 18 cm main lines. We propose to observe these lines in two
regions in Pegasus-Pisces for which we have sensitive CO(1-0) data in an effort to check the estimates of
the abundance of dark molecular gas, and to see whether this gas is indeed traceable via the 18 cm OH
transitions. If successful, OH observations would hold the key to studying the transition regions in PDRs
between the mostly atomic and mostly molecular regimes.
Outreach Abstract:
La Via Lactea tiene muchas grandes estructuras de gas, conocidas como nubes moleculares, que resultan
ser el lugar donde nacen las estrellas . Para encontrar estas nubes, los astronomos buscan la radiacion de
la molecula monoxido de carbon. Sin embargo, este sistema no logra detectar una pequena parte del gas
molecular, llamado gas molecular oscuro. Nuestro interes es de encontrar este gas molecular oscuro,
usando otra molecula: hidroxilo. El telescopio de Arecibo es el telescopio mas sensible para estos tipos de
observaciones. Al encontrar el gas molecular oscuro por medio de la radiacion de hidroxilo, podremos
entender como el gas atomico de la Via Lactea forma las nubes moleculares.
Name
Loris Magnani
Emmanuel Donate
Institution
University of Georgia
University of Georgia
E-mail
[email protected]
[email protected]
1
Phone
706-542-2876
706-542-5128
Student
no
G
Additional Authors
Montana, Missoula, MT
[email protected] - not a
Joseph Onello, Dept. of
Mathematics, University of
student
This work is part of a PhD thesis.
Remote Observing Request
X
Observer will travel to AO
Remote Observing
In Absentia (instructions to operator)
Section II - Time Request
The following times are in LST.
For these observations night-time is not needed.
Begin – End
Days Needed at
Interval–Interval
This Interval
21:30 – 00:30
13
21:00 – 00:00
12
–
–
Time Constraints (Must Be Justified in the Proposal Text)
We (Magnani and Donate) would like to come down for the first set of observations (5-7 days). The rest
of the observations would be done remotely.
Section III - Instruments Needed
L-wide
Atmospheric Observation Instruments:
Special Equipment or setup:
none
Section IV - RFI Considerations
2
Frequency Ranges Planned
1420 - 1720 MHz
Section V - Observing List
Target List
RA (2000) DEC
hr min sec deg ’ ”
22 33 19.3 22 44 10
22 36 42.3 23 17 06
22 40 08.4 23 49 19
22 43 37.4 24 20 47
22 47 09.5 24 51 29
22 35 50.0 21 55 20
22 39 10.0 22 27 44
22 42 33.6 22 59 25
22 45 59.8 23 30 22
22 49 28.9 24 00 33
22 38 19.0 21 06 21
22 41 36.6 21 38 13
22 44 57.0 22 09 23
22 48 20.3 22 39 49
22 51 46.4 23 09 29
22 40 46.3 20 17 13
22 44 01.2 20 48 35
22 47 18.8 21 19 13
22 50 39.1 21 49 08
22 54 02.1 22 18 18
22 43 12.1 19 27 59
22 46 24.2 19 58 49
22 49 38.9 20 28 56
22 52 56.3 20 58 20
22 56 16.3 21 27 00
22 45 36.4 18 38 37
22 48 45.7 19 08 55
22 51 57.6 19 38 32
22 55 11.9 20 07 26
22 58 28.8 20 35 35
22 46 18.7 17 32 36
22 49 40.8 18 05 28
22 53 05.8 18 37 31
22 56 33.7 19 08 44
23 00 04.5 19 39 06
22 48 41.9 16 43 18
22 52 00.8 17 15 36
22 55 22.6 17 47 06
22 58 47.3 18 17 45
23 02 14.7 18 47 34
3
22
22
22
23
23
22
22
22
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
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23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
51
54
57
00
04
53
56
59
03
06
13
17
21
25
29
15
19
22
26
30
17
20
24
28
32
18
22
26
30
34
20
24
28
31
35
22
26
29
33
37
22
25
29
33
37
23
27
31
35
39
03.8
19.6
38.3
59.6
23.6
24.5
37.3
52.7
10.7
31.3
18.1
13.8
12.3
13.5
17.3
13.2
04.9
59.3
56.4
55.9
06.4
54.2
44.6
37.5
33.0
57.9
41.8
28.2
16.9
07.9
47.7
27.7
10.1
54.7
41.6
36.0
12.1
50.5
31.1
13.7
08.7
59.0
51.7
47.0
44.7
56.5
42.6
31.1
22.0
15.3
15
16
16
17
17
15
15
16
16
17
28
28
28
29
29
27
27
27
28
28
26
26
26
27
27
25
25
26
26
26
24
24
25
25
25
23
23
24
24
24
22
22
23
23
23
21
21
22
22
22
53
25
56
26
55
04
35
05
35
04
03
27
50
12
33
09
32
55
16
37
14
37
59
21
41
20
42
04
25
45
25
47
09
29
49
31
52
13
33
52
22
46
08
30
51
27
51
13
34
55
54
38
34
41
57
24
34
57
31
15
29
25
25
28
34
10
39
14
52
34
45
49
58
12
29
15
53
37
26
21
40
52
11
37
08
00
47
41
43
52
14
04
55
44
30
41
04
28
51
13
4
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
23
25
29
33
36
40
27
31
34
38
42.9
24.9
09.2
55.8
44.6
28.1
05.9
46.1
28.4
20
20
21
21
21
19
20
20
20
33
56
17
38
58
38
00
22
42
04
00
57
55
53
23
52
23
51
5