Galactic Structure and ISM Working Group

Introduction

The Galactic Structure and Interstellar Medium Working Group is part of the LSST Stars, Milky Way and Local Volume Science Collaboration. We meet on a monthly basis, currently on the second Tuesday of each month at 08:00 PST (17:00 CET).

Galactic Structure

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will measure new photometry and astrometry for objects that are too faint for Gaia, enabling further exploration of galactic and local group structure and evolution as these observations will place constraints on stellar masses, ages, kinematics, and metallicities. LSST will detect ultra-cold subdwarfs in the solar neighborhood that are remnants of the oldest stellar populations in the galaxy.

Past discussions of Gaia in LSST public forums have been extracted. Each of these documents are under active revision and are open for public comment.

The Interstellar Medium

LSST photometry of stars can be utilized to map the 3-D distribution of interstellar dust and to infer variations in properties such as grain size. In addition, galactic diffuse emission, including low surface brightness structures, can be mapped using multi-band broad imaging. Temporal changes in morphology and spectral energy distributions will also bee detected in Herbig-Haro Objects and other structures.

Seminar Series

The LSST Galactic Structure and Interstellar Medium science working group is hosting talks during its monthly meetings commencing in early 2025. Please refer to our current speaker and topic schedule.

Contact Us

Co-Chairs