The 1.28 GHz MeerKAT Galactic Center Mosaic
Abstract
The inner 200 pc region of the Galaxy contains a 4 million M supermassive black hole (SMBH), significant quantities of molecular gas, and star formation and cosmic ray energy densities that are roughly two orders of magnitude higher than the corresponding levels in the Galactic disk. At a distance of only 8.2 kpc, the region presents astronomers with a unique opportunity to study a diverse range of energetic astrophysical phenomena, from stellar objects in extreme environments, to the SMBH and star-formation driven feedback processes that are known to influence the evolution of galaxies as a whole. We present a new survey of the Galactic center conducted with the South African MeerKAT radio telescope. Radio imaging offers a view that is unaffected by the large quantities of dust that obscure the region at other wavelengths, and a scene of striking complexity is revealed. We produce total intensity and spectral index mosaics of the region from 20 pointings (144 hours on-target in total), covering 6.5 square degrees with an angular resolution of 4,at a central frequency of 1.28 GHz. Many new features are revealed for the first time due to a combination of MeerKAT's high sensitivity, exceptional -plane coverage, and geographical vantage point. We highlight some initial survey results, including new supernova remnant candidates, many new non-thermal filament complexes, and enhanced views of the Radio Arc Bubble, Sgr A and Sgr B regions. This project is a SARAO public legacy survey, and the image products are made available with this article.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2201.10541,
title = {The 1.28 GHz MeerKAT Galactic Center Mosaic},
author = {I. Heywood and I. Rammala and F. Camilo and W. D. Cotton and F. Yusef-Zadeh and T. D. Abbott and R. M. Adam and G. Adams and M. A. Aldera and K. M. B. Asad and E. F. Bauermeister and T. G. H. Bennett and H. L. Bester and W. A. Bode and D. H. Botha and A. G. Botha and L. R. S. Brederode and S. Buchner and J. P. Burger and T. Cheetham and D. I. L. de Villiers and M. A. Dikgale-Mahlakoana and L. J. du Toit and S. W. P. Esterhuyse and B. L. Fanaroff and S. February and D. J. Fourie and B. S. Frank and R. R. G. Gamatham and M. Geyer and S. Goedhart and M. Gouws and S. C. Gumede and M. J. Hlakola and A. Hokwana and S. W. Hoosen and J. M. G. Horrell and B. Hugo and A. I. Isaacson and G. I. G. Józsa and J. L. Jonas and A. F. Joubert and R. P. M. Julie and F. B. Kapp and J. S. Kenyon and P. P. A. Kotzé and N. Kriek and H. Kriel and V. K. Krishnan and R. Lehmensiek and D. Liebenberg and R. T. Lord and B. M. Lunsky and K. Madisa and L. G. Magnus and O. Mahgoub and A. Makhaba and S. Makhathini and J. A. Malan and J. R. Manley and S. J. Marais and A. Martens and T. Mauch and B. C. Merry and R. P. Millenaar and N. Mnyandu and O. J. Mokone and T. E. Monama and M. C. Mphego and W. S. New and B. Ngcebetsha and K. J. Ngoasheng and M. T. Ockards and N. Oozeer and A. J. Otto and S. S. Passmoor and A. A. Patel and A. Peens-Hough and S. J. Perkins and A. J. T. Ramaila and N. M. R. Ramanujam and Z. R. Ramudzuli and S. M. Ratcliffe and A. Robyntjies and S. Salie and N. Sambu and C. T. G. Schollar and L. C. Schwardt and R. L. Schwartz and M. Serylak and R. Siebrits and S. K. Sirothia and M. Slabber and O. M. Smirnov and L. Sofeya and B. Taljaard and C. Tasse and A. J. Tiplady and O. Toruvanda and S. N. Twum and T. J. van Balla and A. van der Byl and C. van der Merwe and V. Van Tonder and R. Van Wyk and A. J. Venter and M. Venter and B. H. Wallace and M. G. Welz and L. P. Williams and B. Xaia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.10541},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
29 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in the The Astrophysical Journal. Replacement arXiv version with higher quality figures