NGC 5102 provides a rare opportunity to study directly the fuelling of a starburst by infalling gas. We can still see the ongoing star formation, the central extended ionized gas and the likely source of the gas in the form of the HI ring. Our Herschel programme for NGC 5102 will cover two aspects of the starburst process. First, we would like to know if there is additional current star formation hidden by dust in the inner region of the galaxy. Then, we would like to probe the dynamics and physical conditions of the molecular gas which is flowing into the centre of NGC 5102. Using the kinematic resolution of HIFI, it should be possible to measure a velocity gradient in this inflow
Publication
Instrument
HIFI_HifiMapping_raster, PACS_PacsLineSpec_point
Temporal Coverage
2012-07-10T10:12:45Z/2012-08-17T11:47:21Z
Version
SPG v14.2.0
Mission Description
Herschel was launched on 14 May 2009! It is the fourth 'cornerstone' mission in the ESA science programme. With a 3.5 m Cassegrain telescope it is the largest space telescope ever launched. It is performing photometry and spectroscopy in approximately the 55-671 µm range, bridging the gap between earlier infrared space missions and groundbased facilities.
