HELP : The Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project & The Coming of Age of Multi-Wavelength Astrophysics

TL;DR

The HELP project consolidates multi-wavelength astronomical data from Herschel surveys to create a comprehensive, homogeneous database that advances understanding of galaxy formation and evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a unified, well-characterized multi-wavelength database integrating diverse datasets for the astronomical community.

Findings

Successful integration of multi-wavelength datasets over 1000 deg$^2$

Provides a valuable resource for statistical analysis of galaxy evolution

Facilitates future research in multi-wavelength astrophysics

Abstract

How did galaxies form and evolve? This is one of the most challenging questions in astronomy today. Answering it requires a careful combination of observational and theoretical work to reliably determine the observed properties of cosmic bodies over large portions of the distant Universe on the one hand, and accurately model the physical processes driving their evolution on the other. Most importantly, it requires bringing together disparate multi-wavelength and multi-resolution spectro-photometric datasets in an homogeneous and well-characterized manner so that they are suitable for a rigorous statistical analysis. The Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP) funded by the EC FP7 SPACE program aims to achieve this goal by combining the expertise of optical, infrared and radio astronomers to provide a multi-wavelength database for the distant Universe as an accessible value-added resource for the astronomical community. It will do so by bringing together multi-wavelength datasets covering the 1000 deg$^2$ mapped by Herschel extragalactic surveys in an homogeneous and well-characterized manner, creating a joint lasting legacy from several ambitious sky surveys.