Abstract
The ORION MIDEX mission is a 1.2m UV-visual observatory orbiting at L2 that will conduct the first-ever high spatial resolution survey of a statistically significant sample of visible star-forming environments in the Solar neighborhood in emission lines and continuum. This survey will be used to characterize the star and planet forming environments within 2.5 kpc of the Sun, infer global properties and star formation histories in these regions, understand how environment influences the process of star and planet formation, and develop a classification scheme for star forming regions. Based on these findings a similar survey will be conducted of large portions of the Magellanic Clouds, extending the classification scheme to new types of regions common in external galaxies, allowing the characterization of low mass star forming environments in the Magellanic Clouds, study of the spatial distribution of star forming environments and tracing of star formation history. Finally the mission will image a sample of external galaxies out to ∼5 Mpc. The distribution of star forming region type will be mapped as a function of galactic environment to infer the distribution and history of low-mass star formation over galactic scales, and characterize the stellar content and star formation history of galaxies.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1598-1607 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 5487 |
| Issue number | PART 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2004 |
| Event | Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Space Telecopes - Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: Jun 21 2004 → Jun 25 2004 |
Keywords
- MIDEX mission
- Optical
- Space-based observing
- Star formation
- Ultraviolet
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering