WIRE Primary Science

WIRE Objective

The objective of the WIRE mission is to answer the following three questions:
  What fraction of the luminosity of the Universe at a redshift of 0.5 and beyond is due to starburst galaxies? How fast and in what ways are starburst galaxies evolving? Are luminous protogalaxies common at redshifts less than 3?

These questions will be answered via a deep survey at 25 microns and 12 microns, together with a followup redshift survey.
 
 

Science Strategy

• Measure the confusion limit for WIRE.
• 
  The answer to Question 1 can be obtained by the confusion limit plus some other assumptions.
• Obtain a large sample (> 2000) of faint starburst galaxies.
• 
  The number counts will indicate the evolutionary rate. The distribution of 25-12 micron color with flux will reveal the nature of the evolution.
• Survey largest possible volume of the early Universe for ultraluminous protogalaxies.
• 
  We will select sources with the reddest 25-12 micron color as candidates for further study.
• Make followup observations.

We will obtain the redshift distribution of a complete sample of > 2000 detections to verify evolutionary rate and nature. We will also obtain redshifts for protogalaxy candidates, and followup the most luminous subset with HST and other facilities.



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Last Updated: 9/3/97