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Studying Nearby Low-Metallicity Environments with Scylla

Published onJun 01, 2020
Studying Nearby Low-Metallicity Environments with Scylla

Scylla is a photometric imaging survey to study the stellar distribution and dust properties of the nearby low metallicity environments, such as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) and dwarf galaxies Sextans A and NGC3109. Multi-band photometric data spanning the UV to the near-infrared will be captured using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during HST Cycles 27-29. Scylla is running in parallel with the ULLYSES survey (500 orbits), which targets the UV spectra of hot stars. We will use the Bayesian Extinction and Stellar Tool (BEAST) to fit stellar models to every star observed in each field, accounting for parameters such as age, initial mass, metallicity, and distance. This allows us to simultaneously estimate the dust properties along the sightline to each star, fitting parameters such as dust extinction (Av) and average grain size (Rv). With Scylla, we will (1) map the extinction curve and dust grain properties at high resolution in a diverse range of interstellar conditions; (2) constrain the multi-dimensional structure of gas in the LMC and SMC; and (3) measure the comprehensive star formation and chemical enrichment histories of nearby dwarf galaxies. We will present an overview of the survey design, along with initial data products utilizing the BEAST.

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