Overview of the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey: mapping nearby galaxies at Apache Point Observatory

Bundy, Kevin; Bershady, Matthew A.; Law, David R.; Yan, Renbin; Drory, Niv; MacDonald, Nicholas; Wake, David A.; Cherinka, Brian; S?nchez-Gallego, Jos? R.; Weijmans, Anne-Marie; Thomas, Daniel; Tremonti, Christy; Masters, Karen; Coccato, Lodovico; Diamond-Stanic, Aleksandar M.; Arag?n-Salamanca, Alfonso; Avila-Reese, Vladimir; Badenes, Carles; Falc?n-Barroso, J?sus; Belfiore, Francesco; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Blanc, Guillermo A.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Blanton, Michael R.; Brownstein, Joel R.; Byler, Nell; Cappellari, Michele; Conroy, Charlie; Dutton, Aaron A.; Emsellem, Eric; Etherington, James; Frinchaboy, Peter M.; Fu, Hai; Gunn, James E.; Harding, Paul; Johnston, Evelyn J.; Kauffmann, Guinevere; Kinemuchi, Karen; Klaene, Mark A.; Knapen, Johan H.; Leauthaud, Alexie; Li, Cheng; Lin, Lihwai; Maiolino, Roberto; Malanushenko, Viktor; Malanushenko, Elena; Mao, Shude; Maraston, Claudia; McDermid, Richard M.; Merrifield, Michael R.; Nichol, Robert C.; Oravetz, Daniel; Pan, Kaike; Parejko, John K...

Abstract

We present an overview of a new integral field spectroscopic survey called MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory), one of three core programs in the fourth-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) that began on 2014 July 1. MaNGA will investigate the internal kinematic structure and composition of gas and stars in an unprecedented sample of 10,000 nearby galaxies. We summarize essential characteristics of the instrument and survey design in the context of MaNGA's key science goals and present prototype observations to demonstrate MaNGA's scientific potential. MaNGA employs dithered observations with 17 fiber-bundle integral field units that vary in diameter from 12'' (19 fibers) to 32'' (127 fibers). Two dual-channel spectrographs provide simultaneous wavelength coverage over 3600-10300 Å at R ~ 2000. With a typical integration time of 3 hr, MaNGA reaches a target r-band signal-to-noise ratio of 4-8 (Å–1 per 2'' fiber) at 23 AB mag arcsec–2, which is typical for the outskirts of MaNGA galaxies. Targets are selected with M * 109 M ☉ using SDSS-I redshifts and i-band luminosity to achieve uniform radial coverage in terms of the effective radius, an approximately flat distribution in stellar mass, and a sample spanning a wide range of environments. Analysis of our prototype observations demonstrates MaNGA's ability to probe gas ionization, shed light on recent star formation and quenching, enable dynamical modeling, decompose constituent components, and map the composition of stellar populations. MaNGA's spatially resolved spectra will enable an unprecedented study of the astrophysics of nearby galaxies in the coming 6 yr.

Citation

Bundy, K., Bershady, M. A., Law, D. R., Yan, R., Drory, N., MacDonald, N., …Zhang, K. (2014). Overview of the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey: mapping nearby galaxies at Apache Point Observatory. Astrophysical Journal, 798(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/798/1/7

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 21, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Dec 10, 2014
• Publication Date: Dec 10, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0004-637X
• Electronic ISSN: 1538-4357
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 798
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 7
• Pages: 7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/798/1/7
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/741101
• Publisher URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/798/1/7/meta
• Contract Date: Jul 11, 2016