The Carnegie-Spitzer-IMACS (CSI) survey, currently underway at the Magellan-Baade 6.5m telescope in Chile, has been specifically designed to characterize normal galaxies and their environments at a distance of about 4 billion years post Big Bang, expresses by astronomers as  z=1.5.

The survey selection is done using the Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy fields, which provides as close a selection by stellar mass as possible.

Using the IMACS infrared camera, the survey goal is to study galaxies down to low light magnitudes. The goal is to reduce the variance in the density of massive galaxies at these distances and times to accurately trace the evolution of the galaxy mass function to a time with the universe was a third of its current age. The goal is to obtain data for over 200,000 galaxies. With this level of accuracy, this program will be able to assemble a picture of how galaxies have evolved as functions of both mass and environment. For more see http://csi.obs.carnegiescience.edu/

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/SDSS/NRAO/ASIAA

Scientific Area: 
Astronomy
Reference to Person: 
Daniel Kelson
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This cartoon courtesy of Anthony Piro illustrates three possibilities for the origin of the mysterious hydrogen emissions from the Type IA supernova called ASASSN-18tb that were observed by the Carnegie astronomers.
Could this rare supernova resolve a longstanding origin debate?
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Earth's Moon, public domain image
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Carnegie’s Miguel Roth Receives Highest Civilian Honor for Non-Chilean: The O’Higgins Order
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An artist’s conception of a type Ia supernova exploding, courtesy of ESO.
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Pasadena, CA—New work from the Carnegie Supernova Project provides the best-yet calibrations for using type Ia supernovae to measure cosmic distances, which has implications for our understanding of how fast the universe is expanding and the role dark energy may play in driving this process. Led by Carnegie astronomer Chris Burns, the team’s findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.  

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