A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane

Dante Minniti; Roberto K. Saito; Oscar A. Gonzalez; Javier Alonso-García; Marina Rejkuba; Rodolfo Barbá; Mike Irwin; Roberto Kammers; Philip Lucas; Daniel Majaess; Elena Valenti

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201732099

A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane

Dante Minniti, Roberto K. Saito, Oscar A. Gonzalez, Javier Alonso-García, Marina Rejkuba, Rodolfo Barbá, Mike Irwin, Roberto Kammers, Philip Lucas, Daniel Majaess, Elena Valenti

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Abstract

Aims. The windows of low extinction in the Milky Way (MW) plane are rare but important because they enable us to place structural constraints on the opposite side of the Galaxy, which has hither to been done rarely. Methods. We use the near-infrared (near-IR) images of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to build extinction maps and to identify low extinction windows towards the Southern Galactic plane. Here we report the discovery of VVV WIN 1713-3939, a very interesting window with relatively uniform and low extinction conveniently placed very close to the Galactic plane. Results. The new window of roughly 30 arcmin diameter is located at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (347.4, -0.4) deg. We analyse the VVV near-IR colour-magnitude diagrams in this window. The mean total near-IR extinction and reddening values measured for this window are A _Ks = 0.46 and E(J - K _s) = 0.95. The red clump giants within the window show a bimodal magnitude distribution in the K _s band, with peaks at K _s = 14.1 and 14.8 mag, corresponding to mean distances of D = 11.0 ± 2.4 and 14.8 ± 3.6 kpc, respectively. We discuss the origin of these red clump overdensities within the context of the MW disk structure.

Original language	English
Article number	A26
Number of pages	6
Journal	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume	616
Early online date	23 Apr 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732099
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2018

Keywords

Dust, extinction
Galaxy: Disk
Galaxy: Structure
Surveys

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10.1051/0004-6361/201732099Licence: Other

1804.07785Accepted author manuscript, 6.61 MBLicence: Other

https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.07785Licence: Other

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@article{04872edcdc0540bc8e3a8bd04faefef5,

title = "A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane",

abstract = "Aims. The windows of low extinction in the Milky Way (MW) plane are rare but important because they enable us to place structural constraints on the opposite side of the Galaxy, which has hither to been done rarely. Methods. We use the near-infrared (near-IR) images of the VISTA Variables in the V{\'i}a L{\'a}ctea (VVV) Survey to build extinction maps and to identify low extinction windows towards the Southern Galactic plane. Here we report the discovery of VVV WIN 1713-3939, a very interesting window with relatively uniform and low extinction conveniently placed very close to the Galactic plane. Results. The new window of roughly 30 arcmin diameter is located at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (347.4, -0.4) deg. We analyse the VVV near-IR colour-magnitude diagrams in this window. The mean total near-IR extinction and reddening values measured for this window are A Ks = 0.46 and E(J - K s) = 0.95. The red clump giants within the window show a bimodal magnitude distribution in the K s band, with peaks at K s = 14.1 and 14.8 mag, corresponding to mean distances of D = 11.0 ± 2.4 and 14.8 ± 3.6 kpc, respectively. We discuss the origin of these red clump overdensities within the context of the MW disk structure. ",

keywords = "Dust, extinction, Galaxy: Disk, Galaxy: Structure, Surveys",

author = "Dante Minniti and Saito, {Roberto K.} and Gonzalez, {Oscar A.} and Javier Alonso-Garc{\'i}a and Marina Rejkuba and Rodolfo Barb{\'a} and Mike Irwin and Roberto Kammers and Philip Lucas and Daniel Majaess and Elena Valenti",

note = "Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. {\textcopyright} 2018 ESO. Comments: 6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics",

year = "2018",

month = aug,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201732099",

language = "English",

volume = "616",

journal = "Astronomy and Astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane

AU - Minniti, Dante

AU - Saito, Roberto K.

AU - Gonzalez, Oscar A.

AU - Alonso-García, Javier

AU - Rejkuba, Marina

AU - Barbá, Rodolfo

AU - Irwin, Mike

AU - Kammers, Roberto

AU - Lucas, Philip

AU - Majaess, Daniel

AU - Valenti, Elena

PY - 2018/8/1

Y1 - 2018/8/1

N2 - Aims. The windows of low extinction in the Milky Way (MW) plane are rare but important because they enable us to place structural constraints on the opposite side of the Galaxy, which has hither to been done rarely. Methods. We use the near-infrared (near-IR) images of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to build extinction maps and to identify low extinction windows towards the Southern Galactic plane. Here we report the discovery of VVV WIN 1713-3939, a very interesting window with relatively uniform and low extinction conveniently placed very close to the Galactic plane. Results. The new window of roughly 30 arcmin diameter is located at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (347.4, -0.4) deg. We analyse the VVV near-IR colour-magnitude diagrams in this window. The mean total near-IR extinction and reddening values measured for this window are A Ks = 0.46 and E(J - K s) = 0.95. The red clump giants within the window show a bimodal magnitude distribution in the K s band, with peaks at K s = 14.1 and 14.8 mag, corresponding to mean distances of D = 11.0 ± 2.4 and 14.8 ± 3.6 kpc, respectively. We discuss the origin of these red clump overdensities within the context of the MW disk structure.

AB - Aims. The windows of low extinction in the Milky Way (MW) plane are rare but important because they enable us to place structural constraints on the opposite side of the Galaxy, which has hither to been done rarely. Methods. We use the near-infrared (near-IR) images of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to build extinction maps and to identify low extinction windows towards the Southern Galactic plane. Here we report the discovery of VVV WIN 1713-3939, a very interesting window with relatively uniform and low extinction conveniently placed very close to the Galactic plane. Results. The new window of roughly 30 arcmin diameter is located at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (347.4, -0.4) deg. We analyse the VVV near-IR colour-magnitude diagrams in this window. The mean total near-IR extinction and reddening values measured for this window are A Ks = 0.46 and E(J - K s) = 0.95. The red clump giants within the window show a bimodal magnitude distribution in the K s band, with peaks at K s = 14.1 and 14.8 mag, corresponding to mean distances of D = 11.0 ± 2.4 and 14.8 ± 3.6 kpc, respectively. We discuss the origin of these red clump overdensities within the context of the MW disk structure.

KW - Dust, extinction

KW - Galaxy: Disk

KW - Galaxy: Structure

KW - Surveys

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DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201732099

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 616

JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics

JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics

M1 - A26

ER -

A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane

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