Search

We present a comprehensive and precise description of the Sagittarius (Sgr) stellar stream’s 3D geometry as traced by its old stellar population. This analysis draws on the sample of ∼44,000 RR Lyrae (RRab) stars from the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) 3π survey, which is complete and pure within 80 kpc, and extends to with a distance precision of . A projection of RR Lyrae stars within of the Sgr stream’s orbital plane reveals the morphology of both the leading and the trailing arms at very high contrast across much of the sky. In particular, the map traces the stream near-contiguously through the distant apocenters. We fit a simple model for the mean distance and line-of-sight depth of the Sgr stream as a function of the orbital plane angle , along with a power-law background model for the field stars. This modeling results in estimates of the mean stream distance precise to and it resolves the stream’s line-of-sight depth. These improved geometric constraints can serve as new constraints for dynamical stream models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Pan-STARRS1 survey, we derive limiting magnitude, spatial completeness, and density maps that we use to probe the three-dimensional structure and estimate the stellar mass of the so-called Monoceros Ring. The Monoceros Ring is an enormous and complex stellar sub-structure in the outer Milky Way disk. It is most visible across the large Galactic Anticenter region, , . We estimate its stellar mass density profile along every line of sight in 2° × 2° pixels over the entire 30,000 deg2 Pan-STARRS1 survey using the previously developed match software. By parsing this distribution into a radially smooth component and the Monoceros Ring, we obtain its mass and distance from the Sun along each relevant line of sight. The Monoceros Ring is significantly closer to us in the south (6 kpc) than in the north (9 kpc). We also create 2D cross-sections parallel to the Galactic plane that show 135° of the Monoceros Ring in the south and 170° of the Monoceros Ring in the north. We show that the northern and southern structures are also roughly concentric circles, suggesting that they may be waves rippling from a common origin. Excluding the Galactic plane , we observe an excess mass of across . If we interpolate across the Galactic plane, we estimate that this region contains . If we assume (somewhat boldly) that the Monoceros Ring is a set of two Galactocentric rings, its total mass is . Finally, if we assume that it is a set of two circles centered at a point 4 kpc from the Galactic center in the anti-central direction, as our data suggests, we estimate its mass to be . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a recalibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry with new flat fields and zero points derived from Pan-STARRS1. Using point-spread function (PSF) photometry of 60 million stars with 16 < r < 20, we derive a model of amplifier gain and flat-field corrections with per-run rms residuals of 3 millimagnitudes (mmag) in griz bands and 15 mmag in u band. The new photometric zero points are adjusted to leave the median in the Galactic north unchanged for compatibility with previous SDSS work. We also identify transient non-photometric periods in SDSS (“contrails”) based on photometric deviations co-temporal in SDSS bands. The recalibrated stellar PSF photometry of SDSS and PS1 has an rms difference of {9, 7, 7, 8} mmag in griz, respectively, when averaged over 15′ regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the discovery of three new Milky Way satellites from our search for compact stellar overdensities in the photometric catalog of the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS 1, or PS1) 3π survey. The first satellite, Laevens 3, is located at a heliocentric distance of d = 67 ± 3 kpc. With a total magnitude of MV = −4.4 ± 0.3 and a half-light radius of rh = 7 ± 2 pc, its properties resemble those of outer halo globular clusters. The second system, Draco II/Laevens 4, is a closer and fainter satellite (d ∼ 20 kpc, MV = −2.9 ± 0.8), whose uncertain size () renders its classification difficult without kinematic information; it could either be a faint and extended globular cluster or a faint and compact dwarf galaxy. The third satellite, Sagittarius II/Laevens 5 (Sgr II), has an ambiguous nature, as it is either the most compact dwarf galaxy or the most extended globular cluster in its luminosity range ( and MV = −5.2 ± 0.4). At a heliocentric distance of 67 ± 5 kpc, this satellite lies intriguingly close to the expected location of the trailing arm of the Sagittarius stellar stream behind the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph). If confirmed through spectroscopic follow up, this connection would locate this part of the trailing arm of the Sagittarius stellar stream that has so far gone undetected. It would further suggest that Sgr II was brought into the Milky Way halo as a satellite of the Sgr dSph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a three-dimensional map of interstellar dust reddening, covering three-quarters of the sky out to a distance of several kiloparsecs, based on Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) and 2MASS photometry. The map reveals a wealth of detailed structure, from filaments to large cloud complexes. The map has a hybrid angular resolution, with most of the map at an angular resolution of –, and a maximum distance resolution of . The three-dimensional distribution of dust is determined in a fully probabilistic framework, yielding the uncertainty in the reddening distribution along each line of sight, as well as stellar distances, reddenings, and classifications for 800 million stars detected by PS1. We demonstrate the consistency of our reddening estimates with those of two-dimensional emission-based maps of dust reddening. In particular, we find agreement with the Planck -based reddening map to within in to a depth of , and explore systematics at reddenings less than . We validate our per-star reddening estimates by comparison with reddening estimates for stars with both Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry and Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration spectral classifications, finding per-star agreement to within out to a stellar of 1 mag. We compare our map to two existing three-dimensional dust maps, by Marshall et al. and Lallement et al., demonstrating our finer angular resolution, and better distance resolution compared to the former within . The map can be queried or downloaded at http://argonaut.skymaps.info. We expect the three-dimensional reddening map presented here to find a wide range of uses, among them correcting for reddening and extinction for objects embedded in the plane of the Galaxy, studies of Galactic structure, calibration of future emission-based dust maps, and determining distances to objects of known reddening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the selection algorithm and anticipated results for the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS). TDSS is an Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) subproject that will provide initial identification spectra of approximately 220,000 luminosity-variable objects (variable stars and active galactic nuclei across 7500 deg2 selected from a combination of SDSS and multi-epoch Pan-STARRS1 photometry. TDSS will be the largest spectroscopic survey to explicitly target variable objects, avoiding pre-selection on the basis of colors or detailed modeling of specific variability characteristics. Kernel Density Estimate analysis of our target population performed on SDSS Stripe 82 data suggests our target sample will be 95% pure (meaning 95% of objects we select have genuine luminosity variability of a few magnitudes or more). Our final spectroscopic sample will contain roughly 135,000 quasars and 85,000 stellar variables, approximately 4000 of which will be RR Lyrae stars which may be used as outer Milky Way probes. The variability-selected quasar population has a smoother redshift distribution than a color-selected sample, and variability measurements similar to those we develop here may be used to make more uniform quasar samples in large surveys. The stellar variable targets are distributed fairly uniformly across color space, indicating that TDSS will obtain spectra for a wide variety of stellar variables including pulsating variables, stars with significant chromospheric activity, cataclysmic variables, and eclipsing binaries. TDSS will serve as a pathfinder mission to identify and characterize the multitude of variable objects that will be detected photometrically in even larger variability surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]