The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry-BLASTPol: Performance and results from the 2012 Antarctic flight

N. Galitzki, P. A.R. Ade, F. E. Angilè, S. J. Benton, M. J. Devlin, B. Dober, L. M. Fissel, Y. Fukui, N. N. Gandilo, J. Klein, A. L. Korotkov, T. G. Matthews, L. Moncelsi, C. B. Netterfield, G. Novak, D. Nutter, E. Pascale, F. Poidevin, G. Savini, D. ScottJ. A. Shariff, J. D. Soler, C. E. Tucker, G. S. Tucker, D. Ward-Thompson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) is a suborbital mapping experiment, designed to study the role played by magnetic fields in the star formation process. BLASTPol observes polarized light using a total power instrument, photolithographic polarizing grids, and an achromatic half-wave plate to modulate the polarization signal. During its second flight from Antarctica in December 2012, BLASTPol made degree scale maps of linearly polarized dust emission from molecular clouds in three wavebands, centered at 250, 350, and 500 μm. The instrumental performance was an improvement over the 2010 BLASTPol ight, with decreased systematics resulting in a higher number of confirmed polarization vectors. The resultant dataset allows BLASTPol to trace magnetic fields in star-forming regions at scales ranging from cores to entire molecular cloud complexes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes V
EditorsHelen J. Hall, Larry M. Stepp, Roberto Gilmozzi
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9780819496133
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
EventGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes V - Montreal, Canada
Duration: Jun 22 2014Jun 27 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume9145
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Other

OtherGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes V
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontreal
Period6/22/146/27/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • balloons
  • dust emission
  • polarization
  • star formation
  • submillimeter
  • telescopes

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