The CALIFA Survey (''Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey'') is an

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

project to map 600 galaxies with integral field spectroscopy (IFS), to allow detailed studies of these objects. The data are taken at the

Calar Alto Observatory The Calar Alto Observatory (Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía or "Spanish Astronomical Centre in Andalusia") is an astronomical observatory located in Almería province in Spain on Calar Alto, a mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabre ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Project

The CALIFA project addresses a number of open questions in

galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

evolution, among them: # The chemical evolution of galaxies: how, when, and where

metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

are produced in galaxies # Galaxy masses from different tracers: how much mass there is in

stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

, gas, and

dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

, and how it is distributed # Galaxy assembly as traced from the kinematic structure: what the motions of stars and gas tell us about the structure of the galaxies # Galaxy assembly as traced through the stellar population content: how, when, and where did stars form throughout the history of the galaxies CALIFA data are made public through regular releases (DR). DR1, containing 200 data cubes of 100 galaxies, was released 1 November 2012. DR2, containing 400 data cubes of 200 galaxies, was released on 1 October 2014.

* "CALIFA: Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field spectroscopy Area Survey, Early Report"; S. F. Sánchez et al.
Galaxy Formation: An International Conference, July 2011
id.P88, ; * "CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey. I. Survey presentation"; S. F. Sánchez et al.; Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 538, id.A8, 31 pp. February 2012; ; ; * "CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey. II. First public data release"; B. Husemann et al.; Astronomy & Astrophysics, Volume 549, id.A87, 25 pp. January 2013; ; ; * http://califa.caha.es/DR1 * "CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey. III. Second public data release"; R. García-Benito et al.; September 2014 ; ; ; * http://califa.caha.es/DR2 * "The CALIFA survey: Status Report"; S. F. Sánchez et al.; December 2014 ; ; ;

Notes

References

External links

* CALIFA official website: http://califa.caha.es * Calor Alto Observatory: http://www.caha.es {{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System Observational astronomy Astronomical surveys

Project

Further reading

Notes

References

External links