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| Local Volume Legacy | |
|---|---|
| Name | Local Volume Legacy |
| Acronym | LVL |
| Type | Astronomical survey |
| Telescope | Spitzer Space Telescope |
| Wavelength | Infrared |
| Started | 2003 |
| Completed | 2008 |
| Principal investigator | Robert C. Kennicutt Jr. |
| Institutions | NASA, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Steward Observatory |
| Targets | Nearby galaxies |
| Data products | Imaging, photometry, spectral energy distributions |
Local Volume Legacy is an astronomical survey of nearby galaxies conducted with the Spitzer Space Telescope and allied facilities to produce uniform mid-infrared and far-infrared imaging and photometry. The project aimed to characterize star formation, interstellar medium, and dust properties in a volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies while enabling cross-comparisons with ultraviolet and radio surveys such as Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Very Large Array. LVL served as a community resource intersecting programs like SIRTF Nearby Galaxies Survey and follow-on efforts using Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories.
Local Volume Legacy was conceived to deliver a comprehensive infrared legacy dataset for galaxies within ~11 Mpc selected from catalogs like the Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies and surveys associated with Kennicutt, Dale D. and collaborators. The project coordinated with teams behind SINGS, THINGS, KINGFISH, and ANGST to leverage multiwavelength coverage spanning Galaxy Evolution Explorer, Two Micron All Sky Survey, Hubble Space Telescope, and radio interferometers such as the Very Large Array. LVL emphasized uniform processing through pipelines at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and collaboration with principal investigators affiliated with University of Arizona and University of Cambridge groups.
Survey design adopted a volume-limited approach mirroring strategies used in Sloan Digital Sky Survey and local surveys like Local Group Survey to minimize selection bias. Observations used the Spitzer Space Telescope instruments—Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer—to obtain 3.6–160 μm coverage, complemented by archival data from Hubble Space Telescope programs and ancillary datasets from Galaxy Evolution Explorer and Two Micron All Sky Survey. Image reduction employed software developed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and calibration tied to standards used by Spitzer Science Center and cross-checked against photometric systems from Johnson photometric system references. The methodology included point-source subtraction, surface photometry, and spectral energy distribution fitting using models from the Draine & Li dust models and population synthesis libraries from Bruzual & Charlot.
The target sample comprised several hundred galaxies within ~11 Mpc drawn from catalogs such as the Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies and vetted against distance indicators like the Tip of the Red Giant Branch and Cepheid variable measurements from Hubble Space Telescope programs. Selection criteria prioritized completeness in absolute magnitude and morphological diversity including types cataloged in the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies and dwarf systems comparable to objects in the Local Group. The LVL roster included systems studied by Karachentsev and featured well-known nearby galaxies observed in other legacy efforts, enabling cross-calibration with datasets from SINGS and THINGS.
Observational campaigns produced IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0 μm imaging and MIPS 24, 70, 160 μm maps, with photometric catalogs, aperture corrections, and ancillary multiwavelength tables linking to Galaxy Evolution Explorer UV fluxes and Hubble Space Telescope resolved-star data. Data products released to the community included calibrated images, mosaics, point-source catalogs, global photometry, and derived spectral energy distributions suitable for comparison with models by Draine & Li and stellar population libraries like Bruzual & Charlot 2003. The LVL archive interfaced with repositories maintained by NASA/IPAC and drew upon reduction standards from the Spitzer Science Center to ensure interoperability with datasets from Hubble Legacy Archive and radio archives from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
LVL enabled robust calibrations of infrared star-formation rate indicators relative to ultraviolet and Hα tracers studied in works connected to Kennicutt-Schmidt law investigations and comparisons with radio continuum measures from Very Large Array surveys. Results quantified dust emission scaling relations across morphology sequences cataloged in the Third Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies and provided constraints on dust-to-gas ratios when combined with HI maps from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey and CO measurements from facilities such as the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range and IRAM. LVL studies informed the low-metallicity behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon features analyzed relative to studies of dwarf galaxies by Hunter, Skillman, and Tolstoy, and contributed to calibrations used by subsequent programs like KINGFISH and theoretical frameworks by Draine and Li.
The LVL database has been widely used as a benchmark for local Universe comparisons in surveys including Herschel Space Observatory programs, resolved stellar studies with Hubble Space Telescope initiatives like PHAT and ground-based spectroscopic follow-ups at Keck Observatory and Very Large Telescope. Its legacy persists in comparative analyses with high-redshift programs carried out with Spitzer Space Telescope and later with James Webb Space Telescope observations, aiding interpretation of infrared emission in distant galaxy populations surveyed by COSMOS and CANDELS. LVL continues to serve as a reference for studies by teams at NASA, European Space Agency, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and university groups worldwide seeking local-Universe baselines for galaxy evolution, dust physics, and star-formation scaling relations.
Category:Astronomical surveys Category:Spitzer Space Telescope projects