Principal Investigator: Benne Holwerda
PI Institution: University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.
Investigators
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Title: A Census of Milky Way Dwarfs from WFC3 Pure Parallels
Cycle: 18
Abstract
Dwarfs belonging to the Milky Way are found as contaminants in many observations of the high-redshift universe with HST. Any high-redshift study therefore becomes a census of the Milky Way's smallest stellar members. But to study the Galaxy disk's shape, many lines-of-sight are needed.
We propose to capitalize on this painstakingly assembled sample of Milky Way dwarfs, by identifying and classifying them in an ongoing WFC3 Pure Parallel program that produces deep near-infrared imaging. We expect to be complete up to 26 mag, sampling the M, L and T dwarfs along at least 31 independent lines-of-sight out of the Milky Way, possibly more. From the numbers of dwarfs, we will constain current models of the size and shape of the dwarf contribution to the Milky Way.