LSS-GAC - A LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anti-center

TL;DR

The LSS-GAC survey uses low-resolution spectra from the LAMOST telescope to study the structure, composition, and kinematics of the Milky Way's disk and halo, providing data for understanding galaxy formation.

Contribution

It presents a large-scale, uniform spectroscopic survey of over 3 million stars in the Galactic anti-center region, complementing Gaia data for galactic studies.

Findings

Spectral classification and stellar parameters for millions of stars.

Mapping of the Galactic disk and halo structures.

Identification of stellar streams and rare objects.

Abstract

As a major component of the LAMOST Galactic surveys, the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Galactic Anti-center (LSS-GAC) will survey a significant volume of the Galactic thin/thick disks and halo in a contiguous sky area of ~ 3,400sq.deg., centered on the Galactic anti-center (|b| <= 30{\deg}, 150 <= l <= 210{\deg}), and obtain \lambda\lambda 3800--9000 low resolution (R ~ 1,800) spectra for a statistically complete sample of >= 3M stars of all colors, uniformly and randomly selected from (r, g - r) and (r, r - i) Hess diagrams obtained from a CCD imaging photometric survey of ~ 5,400sq.deg. with the Xuyi 1.04/1.20 m Schmidt Telescope, ranging from r = 14.0 to a limiting magnitude of r = 17.8 (18.5 for limited fields). The survey will deliver spectral classification, radial velocity Vr and stellar parameters (effective temperature Teff, surface gravity log g and metallicity [Fe/H]) for millions of Galactic stars. Together with Gaia which will provide accurate distances and tangential velocities for a billion stars, the LSS-GAC will yield a unique dataset to study the stellar populations, chemical composition, kinematics and structure of the disks and their interface with the halo, identify streams of debris of tidally disrupted dwarf galaxies and clusters, probe the gravitational potential and dark matter distribution, map the 3D distribution of interstellar dust extinction, search for rare objects (e.g. extremely metal-poor or hyper-velocity stars), and ultimately advance our understanding of the assemblage of the Milky Way and other galaxies and the origin of regularity and diversity of their properties. ... (abridged)