Galactic Structure and Interstellar Medium Science Working Group


Rubin First Look Image featuring Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae

Introduction and Contact Information

The Galactic Structure and Interstellar Medium Science Working Group [GSISM SWG] is part of the LSST Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration. We have a presence on the Discovery Alliance Slack workspace and an e-mail list on Google Groups. The GSISM SWG meets on monthly on Zoom, currently on the second Tuesday of each month at 08:00 PDT (17:00 CEST).

Science Themes

Stellar Populations

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.
  • Synergy with near-IR surveys
  • Ultracool subdwarfs
  • Hot subdwarfs
  • Flare stars

Galactic Structure

  • Stellar streams
  • Disk asymmetries and oscillations
  • Bulge

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 be detected in Herbig-Haro Objects and other structures.
  • Software for the measure of the optical fluxes from galactic diffuse medium
  • Galactic cirri in deep optical imaging
  • Cirrus and nearby dust
  • ISM in the time domain

Seminar Series

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

Co-Chairs