EXTENDING THE NEARBY GALAXY HERITAGE WITHWISE: FIRST RESULTS FROM THEWISEENHANCED RESOLUTION GALAXY ATLAS

Abstract

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mapped the entire sky at mid-infrared wavelengths 3.4 µm, 4.6 µm, 12 µm and 22 µm. The mission was primarily designed to extract point sources, leaving resolved and extended sources, for the most part, unexplored. Accordingly, we have begun a dedicated WISE Enhanced Resolution Galaxy Atlas (WERGA) project to fully characterize large, nearby galaxies and produce a legacy image atlas and source catalogue. Here we demonstrate the first results of the WERGA-project for a sample of 17 galaxies, chosen to be of large angular size, diverse morphology, and covering a range in color, stellar mass and star formation. It includes many wellstudied galaxies, such as M 51, M 81, M 87, M 83, M 101, IC 342. Photometry and surface brightness decomposition is carried out after special super-resolution processing, achieving spatial resolutions similar to that of Spitzer -IRAC. The enhanced resolution method is summarized in the first paper of this two part series. In this second work, we present WISE, Spitzer and GALEX photometric and characterization measurements for the sample galaxies, combining the measurements to study the global properties. We derive star formation rates using the PAH-sensitive 12 µm (W3) fluxes, warm-dust sensitive 22 µm (W4) fluxes, and young massive-star sensitive UV fluxes. Stellar masses are estimated using the 3.4 µm (W1) and 4.6 µm (W2) measurements that trace the dominant stellar mass content. We highlight and showcase the detailed results of M 83, comparing the WISE/Spitzer results with the ATCA Hi gas distribution and GALEX UV emission, tracing the evolution from gas to stars. In addition to the enhanced images, WISE's all-sky coverage provides a tremendous advantage over Spitzer for building a complete nearby galaxy catalog, tracing both stellar mass and star-formation histories. We discuss the construction of a complete mid-infrared catalog of galaxies and its complementary role to study the assembly and evolution of galaxies in the local universe.

The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory

“…The first source of targets is the BAT 70-month Hard X-ray catalog (Baumgartner et al 2013 To identify good targets, the specific star formation rate (sSFR) and inclination of every object in the baseline MaNGA targeting catalog were calculated. The sSFR was determined using WISE photometry from Lang et al (2016) and the calibration between the W4 filter and 22 μm emission in Jarrett et al (2013). We then use a calibration from Cluver et al (2014) to derive the sSFR.…”

Hierarchical Formation in Action: Characterizing Accelerated Galaxy Evolution in Compact Groups Using Whole-Sky Wise Data

“…Jarrett et al (2013) give the corrections in magnitudes: +0.034, +0.041, −0.030, +0.029, for the m 3.4, 4.6, 12, 22 m bands, respectively. We convert from a magnitude correction to a flux correction using the relationship = -m f 2.5 log apcor 10 apcor , taken from Section 2.3 of the WISEpreliminary explanatory supplement.…”

“…Evolved stellar populations emit the majority of their light at near-infrared wavelengths ( -m 1 5 m), so both the (W1) m 3.4 m and (W2) m 4.6 m bands effectively trace photospheric emission from these older stars; W1 is particular sensitive to stellar light and can often observe luminosities on the order of  L out to » z 0.5 (Cluver et al 2014). The W1 and W2 bands are optimal tracers of the stellar mass content because they suffer minimally from extinction and can detect the Rayleigh-Jeans tail for stars hotter than 2000 K (Jarrett et al 2013). We use Equation (9) from Jarrett et al (2013) to derive our stellar masses:…”

“…The W1 and W2 bands are optimal tracers of the stellar mass content because they suffer minimally from extinction and can detect the Rayleigh-Jeans tail for stars hotter than 2000 K (Jarrett et al 2013). We use Equation (9) from Jarrett et al (2013) to derive our stellar masses:…”

Lingering Grains of Truth Around Comet 17p/Holmes

“…The flux was calibrated and color-corrected as described in Section 2. To correct for light potentially lost outside the large aperture, we applied an aperture correction of −0.03 mag derived by Jarrett et al (2013). To estimate the cross-section of material present, we used the following relation from Min et al (2005):…”