8 Ancillary observations8.1 H I ObservationsThe HI data set will be obtained with the aperture synthesis radio-telescope of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), using the technical structure of the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS) consortium. The "Canadian HI team" for this legacy project consists of SEDI co-Is Joncas and Martin and also Kerton (former PhD student of Martin, working on IR dust imaging and HI). They are closely involved in CGPS, CGPS II and the International Galactic Plane Survey (IGPS) and will use the CGPS data pipeline to process the HI data for the SIRTF fields. Data are available for two fields (Polaris and Ursa Major) already, and application will be made to DRAO early in 2001 for the remaining eight fields that can be mapped with the DRAO E-W array (see also supporting letter from the DRAO Director). The fields for which HI observations are available and those for which they will be requested are marked in Table 1. All HI data cubes would have similar characteristics: sensitivity of a few K brightness temperature at 1 arc minute resolution and 0.8 km/s spectral resolution. For each of the fields observed with the DRAO interferometer we will deliver to the SSC HI data cubes providing HI spectra on a 30 arcsec grid. We have chosen our source list (Table 1) so as to concentrate HI regions in the north and molecular cloud in the south in order to guarantee the desired HI and CO ancillary data, respectively. Follow-up observations on the southern fields or at higher angular resolution than provided by DRAO could be obtained at the VLA and the Australia Telescope. The Canadian HI team already has a pipeline for VLA HI data reduction developed in connection with the VLA Galactic Plane Survey (the VGPS observations just completed are part of the IGPS which also includes the DRAO CGPS and CGPS II). Their IGPS project includes observations with the Australia Telescope and Parkes. 8.2 CO observationsThe Nagoya University team led by Fukui has been carrying out large-scale CO and 13CO surveys of nearby molecular clouds in the J=1-0 transition with two 4-meter radio telescopes, from Nagoya since 1990 and from Las Campanas in Chile with the NANTEN telescope since 1996. In 2001, the main reflector of the NANTEN telescope will be replaced with 33 aluminium panels with surface accuracy better than 20 micron to achieve high reflective gain at the CO(2-1) frequency. Observations in this new frequency range will start from June 2001. On-the-fly mapping will be also available in 2001. The SEDI program will benefit from these upgrades. The fields marked in Table 1 will be observed in the J=2-1 transitions of both 12CO and 13CO on a 1 arcmin grid with a 3 sigmas-sensitivity of 0.5 K at at an angular and velocity resolution of 1.3 arcmin and 0.2 km/s. We will deliver CO data cubes for each of the fields observed with the NANTEN telescope providing 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) emission spectra as a function of gas velocity on a 1 arcmin grid. Several co-Is have access and expertise in using the IRAM 30M and interferometer for molecular follow-up in the northern sky. 8.3 Optical ImagingWe will carry out imaging of all the SEDI fields in the V, R and I bands using available wide field optical imagers currently at ESO (WFI camera) and NOAO (Mosaic camera). In an open letter adressed to European astrononomers ESO's director general has announced that ESO will ensure appropriate and timely allocation of time for approved SIRTF Legacy programs. The NOAO observing request is included in this proposal. For the ESO observations, we will observe the 8 SEDI fields accessible from La Silla (Dec<25 degrees) with the ESO WFI mounted at the 2.2 m telescope. Each field will be imaged down to limiting magnitudes (S/N>30 on a point source) of 23, 22.5 and 21.5 in the V, R and I broad band filters respectively. These sensitivities of the optical observations have been chosen so that we would detect all but exceptionally infrared-bright sources at V, R, and I. We estimate that the SEDI fields can be completely covered with ~80 ESO/WFI plus ~100 NOAO frames (in each bandpass) The required telescope time for the entire survey will be ~7-12 nights per telescope which will be spread over 1-1.5 yrs of observing requiring ~4 nights per semester at each telescope. The ESO observations will be coordinated by Testi, and the NOAO observations by Reach. The ESO observations and data reduction will be carried out by Testi and Randich in collaboration with Alcala and Covino, astronomers from the Osservatorio di Capodimonte (Naples) and members of the team responsible for the VLT Survey Teslescope (VST) to be installed in Paranal. The observing procedure and data reduction will fully benefit from the experience and data reduction pipeline and software tools developed at the Osservatorio di Capodimonte for this project. The NOAO observations and data reduction will be performed by Bryan Penprase with technical support from the NOAO staff and IPAC, using the NOAO data reduction software developed for IRAF. We will deliver to the SSC an atlas of images ~0.30 sq.deg. in size plus a catalog of pointlike objects. The optical data will provide extinction maps with an angular resolution with about 1'.
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