Bibcode
Allende Prieto, C.; Majewski, S. R.; Schiavon, R.; Cunha, K.; Frinchaboy, P.; Holtzman, J.; Johnston, K.; Shetrone, M.; Skrutskie, M.; Smith, V.; Wilson, J.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol.329, Issue , p.1018
Advertised on:
12
2008
Citations
148
Refereed citations
135
Description
APOGEE is a large-scale, NIR, high-resolution (R˜ 20 000)
spectroscopic survey of Galactic stars. It is one of the four
experiments in SDSS-III. Because APOGEE will observe in the H band,
where the extinction is six times smaller than in V, it will be the
first survey to pierce through Galactic dust and provide a vast, uniform
database of chemical abundances and radial velocities for stars across
all Galactic populations (bulge, disk, and halo). The survey will be
conducted with a dedicated, 300-fiber, cryogenic, spectrograph that is
being built at the University of Virginia, coupled to the ARC 2.5-m
telescope at Apache Point Observatory. APOGEE will use a significant
fraction of the SDSS-III bright time during a three-year period to
observe, at high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N> 100), about 100 000
giant stars selected directly from 2MASS down to a typical flux limit of
H<13. The main scientific objectives of APOGEE are: (1) measuring
unbiased metallicity distributions and abundance patterns for the
different Galactic stellar populations, (2) studying the processes of
star formation, feedback, and chemical mixing in the Milky Way, (3)
surveying the dynamics of the bulge and disk, placing constraints on the
nature and influence of the Galactic bar and spiral arms, and (4) using
extensive chemodynamical data, particularly in the inner Galaxy, to
unravel its formation and evolution.