BLAST
Studying the evolutionary history and processes of star formation
in our Galaxy and in galaxies at cosmological distances
Enzo Pascale, Cardiff University
The Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope
Cardiff University:
Peter Ade, Matt Griffin, Peter Hargrave, Phil Mauskopf, Carole
Tucker;
University of Toronto:
Peter Martin, Taylor Martin, Barth Netterfield, Marco Viero;
University of Pennsylvania:
Mark Devlin, Simon Dicker, Jeff Klein, Marie Rex, Christopher
Semisch, Matthew Truch;
University of British Columbia:
Ed Chapin, Mark Halpern, Gaelen Marsden, Douglas Scott,
Donald Wiebe;
Laboratoire APC:
Guillaume Patanchon;
Brown University:
Gregory Tucker;
INAOE:
David Hughes;
University of Miami:
Joshua Gundersen, Nick Thomas
Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
Jamie Bock;
University of Puerto Rico:
Luca Olmi.
Other People in UK working on BLAST data
Cardiff University: Luca Cortese, Jonathan Davies, Simon
Dye, Steve Eales, Jason Kirk, Lorenzo Moncelsi, Matthew
Smith, Sarah Stickler, Derek Ward-Thompson;
Durham University: Ian Smail
Imperial College: Carrie Mac Tavish
ROE: Jim Dunlop, Rob Ivison, Bruce Sibthorpe
The Open University: Mattia Negrello
UCL: Giorgio Savini
6 institutes, 21 people working on Galactic and Extragalactic topics
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST and SPIRE
Similar Focal Plane and Science Motivation
- Arrays of 270 bolometers
250 µm, 350 µm, 500 µm;
- 2m Cassegrain Telescope;
- Diffraction limited beams
30”, 42” and 60” FWHM;
- Flown on a high altitude
balloon platform;
- SPIRE has larger mirror,
higher resolution, and has
access to more sky.
- Most science is accessible
to both BLAST & SPIRE
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
THERMAL RADIATION FROM DUST
BLAST bands are sensitive to the
earliest stages of star formation
Cold pre-stellar cores, T < 14K 
Studying the environment of low to
intermediate-mass star forming regions
Star Formation in the Universe,
and the Cosmic Infrared Background
MIPS
BLAST constrains the FIRB
near its peak
Studying the history of
star–formation of the Universe
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
BLAST
Dole et al. 2006
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST 2006: 11-day circumpolar flight from McMurdo, Antarctica
Extragalactic targets: 175 hours
Galactic targets: 45 hours
About 50% of the data-set available for download
See poster of Sarah Stickler:
BLAST observations of the
Carina Nebula NGC 3372
Enzo Pascale
See poster of Matthew Smith:
Resolved nearby galaxies
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: first results from the 2006 flight
Devlin et al. 2009
- 9 sq-deg survey in CDFS
- 0.8 sq-deg in GOODS at confusion
- hundreds of detected sources at 5σ
Dye et al. 2009
- 24µm and radio IDs for ~50% of BLAST
sources
Spectroscopic redshifts
- About 60% of sources with ID
have spec-z
See poster of Lorenzo Moncelsi
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: first results from the 2006 flight
- A large number of multi-wavelength data is available in CDFS
- Stack BLAST fluxes at the positions provided by external
24µm, Radio, and X-ray catalogues
- Estimate the contribution of these sources to the CIB
- Stacking allows to beat the confusion noise
e.g. the 24 µm source density is 4 sources / beam at 250 µm
- Having the redshifts of these sources we can also estimate this
contribution over cosmic time
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: first results from the 2006 flight
Marsden et al. 2009
24µm contribution to FIRB is within
the 1σ of FIRAS measurements
Pascale et al. 2009
Redshift distribution of the FIRB
____________________________
Most of the CIB below 350 µm
generated at z < 1
Most of the CIB above 350 µm
generated at z > 1
_______________________
BLAST FILLS the gap between
SPITZER and SCUBA/MAMBO
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
Galactic survey in the Vela Molecular Ridge
Netterfield et al. 2009: 50 sq-deg survey in Vela
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST Galactic survey in the Vela constellation
Netterfield et al. 2009
-Blast wavebands sensitive to cold
starless cores
- Detection of intermediate mass cores
- Study mass, luminosity and temperature of
compact sources
-Evidence of non-thermal support in
during the earliest stages of star-formation
VELA-C
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: first results from the 2006 flight
Viero et al.
Correlations in the cosmic far-infrared background
at 250, 350, and 500µm reveal clustering of
star-forming galaxies
Rex et al.
A bright submillimeter source in the bullet cluster filed
detected with BLAST
Truch et al.
The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter
Telescope (BLAST) 2006: Calibration and
flight performance
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: next
Two new major data release before the end of the year
- Release of the 10 sq-deg map in SEP
Sptizer data are publicly available
Akari Data exists
- Nearby resolved galaxies
- Abell 3112
- Carina star-forming region, including Eta-Carinae
List of papers is too long …
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
Watch the movie: http://blastthemovie.com/
THE END
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
END
END
0.5% ATM
40 Km
Cosmic Infrared Background
MIPS
BLAST
Dole et al. 2006
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
Star Formation in the Milky Way
Study the environment of Low to Intermediate-mass
Star Forming Regions
BLAST bands are sensitive to the
earliest stages of star formation
Cold pre-stellar cores ( T < 14K)
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST 2006: 11-day circumpolar flight from McMurdo, Antarctica
Extragalactic targets: 175 hours
Galactic targets: 45 hours
CDFS 8deg2
Galactic Plane 200deg2
VELA 55deg2
BULLET
Several Galactic and Extragalactic targets
SEP 10deg2
WHITE COLOURS:
BLUE COLOURS:
Enzo Pascale
DATA IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD NOW
DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009
BLAST: next
Two new major data release before the end of the year
- Release of the 10 sq-deg map in SEP
Sptizer data are publicly available
Akari Data exists
- Nearby resolved galaxies
- Abell 3112
- Carina star-forming region, including the SNR in Eta-Carina
- Modelling the luminosity function evolution
- The 10 sq-deg South Ecliptic Pole Survey
- Spectroscopic redshifts and evolution of local luminosity function
- Resolved nearby Galaxies
- A combined analysis of BLAST and LABOCA sources
- The evolution of the FIR/radio colours…
- The Carina star-forming region
- Eta-Carina Supernova remnant
- Vela-D star-forming region
- CasA Supernova remnant
Enzo Pascale
data available for download: http://blastexperiment.info 
JeNAM, April 2009