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VISTA variable survey in the Milky Way

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

M. Hempel
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Departemento de Astronomie y Astrofisica, Av. Vic. Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile email: mhempel@astro.puc.cl, dante@astro.puc.cl, rsaito@astro.puc.cl, pietruk@astro.puc.cl
D. Minniti
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Departemento de Astronomie y Astrofisica, Av. Vic. Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile email: mhempel@astro.puc.cl, dante@astro.puc.cl, rsaito@astro.puc.cl, pietruk@astro.puc.cl
R. Saito
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Departemento de Astronomie y Astrofisica, Av. Vic. Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile email: mhempel@astro.puc.cl, dante@astro.puc.cl, rsaito@astro.puc.cl, pietruk@astro.puc.cl
P. Pietrukowicz
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Departemento de Astronomie y Astrofisica, Av. Vic. Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile email: mhempel@astro.puc.cl, dante@astro.puc.cl, rsaito@astro.puc.cl, pietruk@astro.puc.cl
P. W. Lucas
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, University of Hertfordshire, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK email: phyqpwl@herts.ac.uk
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Abstract

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Over the next 5 years the VVV collaboration (Vista Variable in the Via Lactea) will conduct an extensive survey of the galactic bulge and disk in the near-IR, using the new VISTA telescope. This public survey covers a field of 520 sqr. deg, including not only regions of high star formation, but also 33 known globular clusters and ~350 open clusters. The final product will be a deep IR atlas in 5 passbands for ~109 point sources among which we expect 106 variable stars. These will be produce a 3-D map of the surveyed region using well-understood primary distance indicators such as RR Lyrae stars. The observations will be combined with data from MACHO, OGLE, EROS, VST, Spitzer, HST, Chandra, Integral, and ALMA for a complete understanding of the variable sources in the inner Milky Way. Several important implications for the history of the Milky Way, for globular cluster evolution, for the population census of the bulge and center, and for the pulsation theory will follow from this survey.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

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