DURING ITS MISSION THE HERSCHEL SPACE OBSERVATORY SURVEYED LARGE AREAS OF NEARBY MOLECULAR CLOUDS PROBING THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND PROTOSTELLAR CONTENT. THE HERSCHEL ARCHIVE PROVIDES FABULOUS PACS AND SPIRE IMAGES BUT NOT THE MOST DIRECTLY USEFUL DATA PRODUCTS FOR MANY SCIENTISTS: COMPREHENSIVE AND MERGED INFRARED SOURCE CATALOGS IDENTIFICATIONS OF YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS (YSOS) AND MAPS OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MOLECULAR CLOUDS. WE PROPOSE TO COMBINE ARCHIVED OBSERVATIONS FROM HERSCHEL AND THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE TO GENERATE ENHANCED DATA PRODUCTS FOR ALL OBSERVED GOULD BELT MOLECULAR CLOUDS AND MAKE THE PRODUCTS READILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE COMMUNITY ON IRSA. OUR "HERSCHEL ENHANCED LEGACY PRODUCTS FOR STAR-FORMATION STUDIES" (HELPSS) WILL INCLUDE: (1) MERGED CATALOGS OF ALL SOURCES DETECTED AT SPITZER/ MIPS 24 MICRONS OR LONGWARD WITH IDENTIFICATIONS AND YSO CLASS ASSIGNMENTS; AND (2) HIGH QUALITY MAPS OF THE DUST COLUMN DENSITIES AND TEMPERATURES OF THE CLOUDS. THESE ENHANCED PRODUCTS WILL BE MADE IN A SYSTEMATIC AND WELL DOCUMENTED MANNER IN ORDER TO FACILITATE DIRECT CLOUD-TO-CLOUD COMPARISONS ALLOWING INVESTIGATORS TO "DIG DEEPER" INTO SCIENTIFIC ANALYSES BY NOT HAVING TO MANUALLY RECREATE SUCH PRODUCTS THEMSELVES FROM THE ARCHIVED OBSERVATIONS. WITH THESE ENHANCED DATA PRODUCTS WE WILL PURSUE SPECIFIC SCIENCE GOALS INCLUDING: (1) COMPLETING THE CENSUS OF YSOS IN THESE CLOUDS; (2) IDENTIFYING SOURCES LIKELY TO BE THE YOUNGEST FAINTEST AND MOST EXTREME PROTOSTARS; AND (3) CHARACTERIZING THEIR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTS WITHIN THE CLOUDS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE EARLIEST PHASES OF STAR FORMATION. BOTH HERSCHEL AND SPITZER HAVE BEEN MAJOR SUCCESSES EACH ENABLING GREAT STRIDES IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FORMATION OF STARS AND THE ORIGINS OF THEIR PLANETARY SYSTEMS. HELPSS WILL INCREASE THE SCIENTIFIC IMPACT OF BOTH MISSIONS AND WILL FURTHER STRENGTHEN HERSCHEL'S LEGACY BY ENABLING MORE WIDESPREAD USE OF HERSCHEL DATA IN STUDIES OF STAR FORMATION AND MOLECULAR CLOUD STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION.
$471,069FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD