Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images
Diffuse Galactic cirrus, or diffuse Galactic light (DGL), can be a prominent component in the background of deep wide-field imaging surveys. The DGL provides unique insights into the physical and radiative properties of dust grains in our Milky Way, and it also serves as a contaminant on deep images...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9b25 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850268531818496000 |
|---|---|
| author | Qing Liu Roberto Abraham Peter G. Martin William P. Bowman Pieter van Dokkum Shany Danieli Ekta Patel Steven R. Janssens Zili Shen Seery Chen Ananthan Karunakaran Michael A. Keim Deborah Lokhorst Imad Pasha Douglas L. Welch |
| author_facet | Qing Liu Roberto Abraham Peter G. Martin William P. Bowman Pieter van Dokkum Shany Danieli Ekta Patel Steven R. Janssens Zili Shen Seery Chen Ananthan Karunakaran Michael A. Keim Deborah Lokhorst Imad Pasha Douglas L. Welch |
| author_sort | Qing Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Diffuse Galactic cirrus, or diffuse Galactic light (DGL), can be a prominent component in the background of deep wide-field imaging surveys. The DGL provides unique insights into the physical and radiative properties of dust grains in our Milky Way, and it also serves as a contaminant on deep images, obscuring the detection of background sources such as low surface brightness galaxies. However, it is challenging to disentangle the DGL from other components of the night sky. In this paper, we present a technique for the photometric characterization of Galactic cirrus based on (1) extraction of its filamentary or patchy morphology and (2) incorporation of color constraints obtained from Planck thermal dust models. Our decomposition method is illustrated using a ~10 deg ^2 imaging data set obtained by the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, and its performance is explored using various metrics that characterize the flatness of the sky background. As a concrete application of the technique, we show how removal of cirrus allows low surface brightness galaxies to be identified on cirrus-rich images. We also show how modeling the cirrus in this way allows optical DGL intensities to be determined with high radiometric precision. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-930d20ee49394047b643a8e7bce0694c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-930d20ee49394047b643a8e7bce0694c2025-08-20T01:53:26ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01979217510.3847/1538-4357/ad9b25Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field ImagesQing Liu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7490-5991Roberto Abraham1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4542-921XPeter G. Martin2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5236-3896William P. Bowman3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4381-5245Pieter van Dokkum4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8282-9888Shany Danieli5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1841-2252Ekta Patel6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9820-1219Steven R. Janssens7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0327-3322Zili Shen8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5120-1684Seery Chen9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4175-3047Ananthan Karunakaran10https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8855-3635Michael A. Keim11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7743-2501Deborah Lokhorst12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2406-7344Imad Pasha13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7075-9931Douglas L. Welch14https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2350-0898David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada ; qliu@strw.leidenuniv.nl; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The NetherlandsDavid A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada ; qliu@strw.leidenuniv.nl; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, CanadaCanadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 60 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, CanadaDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Ln., Princeton, NJ 08544, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah , 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USACentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADavid A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada ; qliu@strw.leidenuniv.nl; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, CanadaDavid A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada ; qliu@strw.leidenuniv.nlDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USANRC Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Rd., Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, CanadaDepartment of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06520, USADepartment of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University , Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, CanadaDiffuse Galactic cirrus, or diffuse Galactic light (DGL), can be a prominent component in the background of deep wide-field imaging surveys. The DGL provides unique insights into the physical and radiative properties of dust grains in our Milky Way, and it also serves as a contaminant on deep images, obscuring the detection of background sources such as low surface brightness galaxies. However, it is challenging to disentangle the DGL from other components of the night sky. In this paper, we present a technique for the photometric characterization of Galactic cirrus based on (1) extraction of its filamentary or patchy morphology and (2) incorporation of color constraints obtained from Planck thermal dust models. Our decomposition method is illustrated using a ~10 deg ^2 imaging data set obtained by the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, and its performance is explored using various metrics that characterize the flatness of the sky background. As a concrete application of the technique, we show how removal of cirrus allows low surface brightness galaxies to be identified on cirrus-rich images. We also show how modeling the cirrus in this way allows optical DGL intensities to be determined with high radiometric precision.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9b25Astronomy data reductionAstronomy image processingInterstellar dustLow surface brightness galaxiesSky surveys |
| spellingShingle | Qing Liu Roberto Abraham Peter G. Martin William P. Bowman Pieter van Dokkum Shany Danieli Ekta Patel Steven R. Janssens Zili Shen Seery Chen Ananthan Karunakaran Michael A. Keim Deborah Lokhorst Imad Pasha Douglas L. Welch Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images The Astrophysical Journal Astronomy data reduction Astronomy image processing Interstellar dust Low surface brightness galaxies Sky surveys |
| title | Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images |
| title_full | Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images |
| title_fullStr | Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images |
| title_short | Fuzzy Galaxies or Cirrus? Decomposition of Galactic Cirrus in Deep Wide-field Images |
| title_sort | fuzzy galaxies or cirrus decomposition of galactic cirrus in deep wide field images |
| topic | Astronomy data reduction Astronomy image processing Interstellar dust Low surface brightness galaxies Sky surveys |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9b25 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qingliu fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT robertoabraham fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT petergmartin fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT williampbowman fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT pietervandokkum fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT shanydanieli fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT ektapatel fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT stevenrjanssens fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT zilishen fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT seerychen fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT ananthankarunakaran fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT michaelakeim fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT deborahlokhorst fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT imadpasha fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages AT douglaslwelch fuzzygalaxiesorcirrusdecompositionofgalacticcirrusindeepwidefieldimages |