A Three-Dimensional Map of Milky Way Dust

Abstract

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 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 3.4 to 13.7 , and a maximum distance resolution of ∼ 25%. 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 Pan-STARRS 1. 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 τ 353 GHzbased reddening map to within 0.05 mag in E(B −V ) to a depth of 0.5 mag, and explore systematics at reddenings less than E(B −V ) ≈ 0.08 mag. We validate our per-star reddening estimates by comparison with reddening estimates for stars with both SDSS photometry and SEGUE spectral classifications, finding per-star agreement to within 0.1 mag out to a stellar E(B −V ) of 1 mag. We compare our map to two existing three-dimensional dust maps, by Marshall et al. (2006) and Lallement et al. (2013), demonstrating our finer angular resolution, and better distance resolution compared to the former within ∼ 3 kpc. 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.

Shock-powered radio emission from V5589 Sagittarii (Nova Sgr 2012 #1)

“…Using four DIB features (5780 Å, 5796 Å, 6195 Å, and 6613 Å, see Figure 2), we obtained a reddening of E(B − V) = 0.8 ± 0.19 (see Finzell et al 2015, for details of this technique; we were unable to use the Na I D lines at 5889.9 Å and 5895.9 Å due to saturation, or the K I line at 7698.9 Å, which fell into a chip gap in the CCD). This reddening value, in conjunction with the 3D reddening map of Green et al (2015), suggests a distance of 3.6 +1.0 −2.4 kpc. However, taking into account the uncertainties on the reddening of V5589 Sgr and in the reddening map, the Arbitrary Flux 6613.6 Å most likely distance modulus is 12.9 ± 1.4.…”

“…Taking the distance constraints from both reddening and peak optical brightness into consideration, it is unlikely Figure 3. Relationship between the distance modulus and the peak absolute visual magnitude (M V ) of V5589 Sgr, using reddening derived from DIB features shown in Figure 2 Green et al 2015). The horizontal dashed lines show the expected range of M V of between -9.0 and -7.0 mag, and the vertical lines show the corresponding distance moduli of between 12.5 and 14.5.…”

The Green Bank North Celestial Cap Pulsar Survey. III. 45 New Pulsar Timing Solutions

“…Reddening was estimated using a 3D map of interstellar dust reddening by Green et al (2015), the pulsar's sky position, and D DM (see Tables 4 and 5; we used the larger of the DMinferred distances from the NE2001 or YMW16 models to calculate the most conservative limits). These values were converted to extinctions in each PS1 band using Table 6 from Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011).…”

The First Simultaneous Microlensing Observations by Two Space Telescopes: Spitzer and Swift Reveal a Brown Dwarf in Event Ogle-2015-BLG-1319

“…Subtracting the source color and magnitude from the total baseline fluxes gives ( . If we assume that the blend is behind all the dust, which for the direction of the event means it is at 3 kpc (Green et al 2015 . We next derive the physical properties of the lensing system and show that the lens cannot be the dominant source of the blend light.…”