242 research outputs found
Total Opacity of Local Group Galaxies and Large Scale Structure behind the Galactic Bulge
Recently, we have developed and calibrated the Synthetic Field Method to
derive total extinction through disk galaxies. The method is based on the
number counts and colors of distant background field galaxies that can be seen
through the foreground object. Here, we investigate how large (10-m) and very
large (20 to 30-m), diffraction-limited, optical and infrared telescopes in
space would improve the detection of background galaxies behind Local Group
objects, including the Galactic bulge. We find that, besides and perhaps more
important than telescope size, a well-behaved, well-characterized PSF would
facilitate in general the detection of faint objects in crowded fields, and
greatly benefit several other important research areas, like the search for
extrasolar planets, the study of quasar hosts and, most relevant for this
meeting, the surveying of nearby large scale structure in the Zone of
Avoidance, in particular behind the Galactic bulge.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, uses asp2004.sty. To appear in ``Nearby
Large-Scale Structures and the Zone of Avoidance,'' eds. A.P. Fairall, P.
Woudt, ASP Conf. Series, in press, San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the
Pacifi
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