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DGCE SIG Seminar

Diffuse Gas in Cosmic Ecosystems Science Interest Group

DATE

June 26, 2025

TIME

4:00 pm EST

COMMUNITY

DGCE SIG

TYPE

Seminar

Dragonfly Evolved: Ultranarrowband Imaging of the Circumgalactic Medium in the Local Universe

Deborah Lokhorst, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics

The vast majority of baryons in the universe exist outside galaxies, in regions defined as the circumgalactic and intergalactic medium (CGM and IGM). These regions play a critical role in fueling star formation in galaxies but mapping the morphology of the constituent gas to determine the transition of gas into (and out of) galaxies is extremely difficult. We have developed a telescope to directly detect the extremely faint emission from the CGM to enable this mapping ability for local galaxies (z < 0.01). This telescope combines novel ultra-narrow bandpass imaging technology with the Dragonfly Telephoto Array (a mosaic-design telescope composed of Canon telephoto lenses) to enable sensitivity to low surface brightness line emission. A 3-lens prototype of the ultranarrowband upgrade to Dragonfly confirmed this capability and was followed by a 120-lens version (the Dragonfly Spectral Line Mapper), which we used to image H-alpha, [NII] and [OIII] emission in the CGM of local galaxies. We are currently constructing a 1140-lens version of this array, MOTHRA, which will have the sensitivity to fully map the CGM of local galaxies and the potential to detect the filaments of the IGM.

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An illustration of Sun-like star HD 181327 and its surrounding debris disk. The star is at top right. It is surrounded by a far larger debris disk that forms an incomplete ellpitical path and is cut off at right. There’s a huge cavity between the star and the disk. The debris disk is shown in shades of light gray. Toward the top and left, there are finer, more discrete points in a range of sizes. The disk appears hazier and smokier at the bottom. The star is bright white at center, with a hazy blue region around it. The background of space is black. The label Artist's Concept appears at lower left.