UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for Fe$^+$

TL;DR

The UKIRT UWIFE survey maps 180 square degrees of the Galactic plane in the [Fe II] 1.644 μm line, revealing shock-excited gas in star-forming regions, evolved stars, and supernova remnants, complementing existing infrared surveys.

Contribution

This paper introduces the UWIFE survey, a new widefield infrared imaging project targeting [Fe II] emission in the Galactic plane, providing valuable data on shock-excited gas environments.

Findings

Survey covers 180 deg² of Galactic plane.

Achieved median seeing of 0.83" and detection limit of 18.7 mag.

Provides preliminary results on shock-excited gas in various environments.

Abstract

The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) Widefield Infrared Survey for Fe$^+$ (UWIFE) is a 180 deg$^2$ imaging survey of the first Galactic quadrant (7$^{\circ}$ < l < 62$^{\circ}$; |b| < 1.5$^{\circ}$) using a narrow-band filter centered on the [Fe II] 1.644 {\mu}m emission line. The [Fe II] 1.644 {\mu}m emission is a good tracer of dense, shock-excited gas, and the survey will probe violent environments around stars: star-forming regions, evolved stars, and supernova remnants, among others. The UWIFE survey is designed to complement the existing UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for H2 (UWISH2; Froebrich et al. 2011). The survey will also complement existing broad-band surveys. The observed images have a nominal 5{\sigma} detection limit of 18.7 mag for point sources, with the median seeing of 0.83". For extended sources, we estimate surface brightness limit of 8.1 x 10$^{-20}$ W m$^{-2}$ arcsec$^{-2}$ . In this paper, we present the overview and preliminary results of this survey.